Workshop

I Sustainable Housing and Construction in Europe

I.W2 Rethinking European Urbanity

got to Workshop Results

Date: 24/09/2008
Time: 16:30 - 18:00
Location: Hall C

Target Audience: Scientists, decision makers from international and national organisations (UN, EU, ministries, administration), funding institutions, media

Objectives:

Reflection of “European urbanity” and the European city model from different perspectives.

Format: 2 keynote speakers, discussion
Language: English

The workshop will encourage a dialogue between two keynote speakers about the present and the future of the European city in comparison with other city models (esp. American and Asian).
The first speaker focuses on the physical structure of cities (“hardware”): buildings, urban patterns, infrastructures. The second refers to socio-economic and cultural aspects such as welfare, integration, segregation and the inhabitant's identification with their city (“software”).
The following questions should be addressed:

• What direction is the development of the European City taking - regarding the challenges of globalisation, urban and regional competition, socio-demographic change, scarcity of resources and energy, as well as climate change?
• Who is steering urban development - considering changing regimes involving (local and global) state-, business- and civil society actors?
• What are (spatial) boundaries of urbanity - regarding flows of information, material and people?
• Old values and new challenges - in which terms can the European model of urbanity (still) be considered “ sustainable”?

Workshop Moderation

Müller, Bernhard
Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development, Germany


Meyer-Künzel, Monika
Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development, Germany

Presentations

The physical structure of cities
Visser, Marc A.
S@M Architects & Planners / TU Delft, Netherland
download presentation (3716 KB)

Workshop Results

Speakers input

• Two images still describe a significant part of the urban system: hierarchy of cities, both on the national and international scale, with top tier cities having the largest population size and the widest array of high-level economic activities and facilities and cities as central nodes in a less-urbanized and surrounding hinterland
• People-planet-profit is a term of sustainable development representing the three elements which in a harmonius manner should be combined
• In the last few decades a new phenomenon emerges in the advanced economies of the world: Megacity region, a closely knit and dense network of large and smaller urban centres that, as a whole, functions more or less as one integrated daily urban system, in fact as one city
• Randstad in Holland is a case in point
• The efficiency of the Megacity region is strongly determined by the capacity of networks (traffic, power lines, telecom networks, fuel pipelines)
• The first priority is to offer perspective: not only protecting the people but rather by making them resourceful, flexible, full of self-reliance
• Food production and recreation has also to be offered in this network
• The internal cohesion of the (potential) megacity-region Randstad is restricted, the competitiveness requires new incentives and climate change creates immense new challenges
• Dutch government is currently setting out a new course on these issues
  

Main issues of Dialogue

Describing an “ideal” Europe Urbanity in the future:

• Physical structures: less brick, high-quality public spaces, adequate dimensions, compactness
• Social structures: Integration, participation and discussion, openness and equality (gender, political etc.), justice
• Urban development: sustainable, ecological, innovative, high living standards
• Visions
• Appreciating cultural heritage
  

Practical conclusions
The „leitbild“ of the European City has to be reconsidered. Different ways of life, requirement and regional conditions demand wel-fitting solutions. In some cases megacity regions could be sustainable structures.