IX Foreword and preface

The greatest challenges of the 21st century will presumably require tremendous shifts in the way cities, neighborhoods and buildings are formed, designed and shaped. While the regulations and constrains predicated primarily by environmental concerns steadily rise the role of planners, urban designers, architects and engineers in shaping metropolitan cities and urban areas of the future will, more than likely, remain in the forefront of providing unparalleled vision and innovation.

"This volume is a most welcome collection, without precedent in range and quality." Alan Simpson, Urban Design Associates "An excellent bringing together of the most important papers and ideas that are relevant to the study of the urban environment." "A real achievement. This book brings together 99 percent of the prominent names in Urban Studies. " lan Robert Douglas, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, USA "An excellent range of texts. The City Reader gathers together some central classics of urban theory; with a few surprises and a number of other pieces which can be difficult to acquire. Editors' comments are consistently illuminating." "This is an essential reader for teaching about the cities and Urban Planning in developing countries. " Horng-Chang Hsieh, Urban Planning Department, Taiwan University "I think this is a splendid selection of writings which illustrate the development of modern thinking on urban problems. This is by far the best book of its type." Dr Tom Begg, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh "Provides an international overview of urban design issues and an historical perspective on visionary planners who have shaped thinking about development. "

Proceedings of the 57th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, 2021

AbdelWahab Shalaby, 2024

Urban planning is revolutionizing. Sustainable, equitable, and innovative city design are now the norm. This paper explores this new period's basic principles, challenges, and opportunities. This trend promotes sustainable design. Urban areas are implementing green infrastructure, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation to lessen their environmental impact. This strategy reduces pollutants and improves public health, making city life better for residents. Technology-data convergence drives urban redevelopment. Sensors and other digital technology are creating "smart cities," which are changing urban life. Cities may improve their systems and services by collecting and analyzing data on traffic patterns and air quality. This new century requires diversity and inclusiveness. To create cities for all ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. This mission includes providing affordable homes, accessible public spaces, and universal healthcare and education. Despite these gains, modern urban planning faces several challenges. Rapid urbanization has left cities unable to meet the needs of their growing populations. This might increase traffic and demand for water and power. Climate change poses another issue. Climate change threatens cities worldwide. Climate-resilient infrastructure and environmental planning are needed in cities.Resource scarcity affects areas without water or power. Reusing rainwater and using renewable energy are imaginative solutions.Urban planners struggle with societal inequality. Basic city services and public amenities should be available to all city residents, regardless of income. Therefore, public transit, low-cost housing, and social support services are crucial.Urban design is changing city planning, development, and management. There is a huge possibility for sustainable, equitable, and forward-thinking urban growth, notwithstanding challenges. Sustainable design, data, and social justice may improve city life.As climate change continues to threaten the world's cities, it is crucial that sustainable design, data, and social justice become a priority. By focusing on these three areas, we can ensure that our cities are equipped to withstand the coming challenges.However, in order to promote the well-being of all citizens and address issues of inequality, it is vital that the cities prioritize sustainability, data, and social justice.By embracing these principles, cities can ensure that all residents have access to the same resources and opportunities, allowing them to thrive and prosper.

Two decades into the 21st century, and the City, one of the most complex human artefacts, continues its transformation. Urbanization processes carry on in different ways and pace across the globe. Along with it, the complexity of urban problems increases and the public debate for their solutions intensifies, while the key urban questions remain classical: How do we imagine cities and urban development in the decades to come? And how do we make it happen?

Clearly with the rapid urbanization of nations throughout the world, a new framework for dealing with this growth is needed. Ortiz offers a compelling case for consideration and implementation of the Metro-Matrix method and places this in the context of urban planning history, the recent experience of developing cities and a theoretical base for decision-making and governance.

" Everything happens fast in the corporate world, because risks increase the longer one waits – whether we are talking about developing something new or about problem solving. " – Anne Stenros I was lucky enough to catch the Chief Design Officer of Helsinki Anne Stenros on stage last year for three times in various events, the final one of these being The Future Female Meetup with the theme of " Smart Cities " at the Helsinki City Hall. This article deals with some of the topics surfacing in the presentations at the event – and offers a sneak peek into the various elements of planning cities and urban life of the future. What are the variable and dominant tendencies in planning Nordic and other cities and designing urban life right now? Where are we at when it comes to urban design in practice? Who is involved – and who not? In an interview by the Finnish Designer's Association Ornamo, Stenros firmly and straightforwardly states that " It's imperative for the corporate world to take an adequate look to the future to be competitive ". 1 I could not agree more, and to complete Stenros's statement – it's imperative also for the cities and their designers to direct their efforts towards a smart and sustainable strategy and vision of the future today. The city of Helsinki has now, since getting a CDO for the very first time, developed and prototyped many new hands-on approaches to getting its citizens involved in urban service design and urban planning. The city now has a brand-new design strategy that seems like a Nordic dream coming true for anyone living here – and paves the way for the citizens to join in and plan their environment and services in many co-creative and human-centric ways, now and over years to come. Furthermore, more and more corporations and entrepreneurs will also be involved in city planning as facilitators and intermediators. This development has both positive and negative emerging and up-coming side-effects. On the positive side, an entrepreneurial and a business-oriented mindset is likely to speed up many projects and processes, empowering the city bureaucrats to move forward with their plans with such speed and velocity, that it may come as a surprise to many people employed by the city right now, and cause some friction between different city units. On the positive side, once things are set in motion, the results of this type of agile and lean design projects can be reviewed with an unseen pace and speed – be they negative or positive.

2020

The book concludes with a synthesized analysis of urban planning in Southern cities, with a particular focus on medium sized cities that play a role of intermediation between their suburban and rural environments and the whole urban network. Starting from the literature on the topic, as presented mainly in Chaps. 2 and 3, we will compare the conceptual advances, as well as the statistical and global data, with the results of the fieldwork carried out in three cities chosen to tackle this theme in specific local and regional contexts. This brings us to highlight the similarities and differences between each urban situation, in order to draw the main lessons that emerge from the analysis. We are able to decrypt the constraints that cities-their authorities, their administrations and their populations-face. And whether or not these restrictions hinder the implementation of a coherent urban planning system. It is on this basis that we will be able to identify the key elements that represent the pillars of an alternative version of urban planning to that which exists (when it exists!), in terms of foundations and guiding principles, objectives and methods used to achieve them, content and instructions. Planning can thus become a real instrument to guide and to manage the city and its region. We recall that urban planning, as we envisage it, is not only a technical exercise dealing with the territory, in the spatial and geographical sense of the definition, but truly an approach aimed at integrating societal issues into a planning process. Planning thus clearly contributes to moving towards a city that is not only socially and economically inclusive, but also sustainable, in which social and economic factors are rooted in the preservation of natural resources, within the framework of participatory and democratic public policies.