Cities are becoming home to most people on this planet. Cities almost everywhere grow in a similarly dynamic fashion, even if they do so at different rates and with partly different planning parameters. That makes it logical to try out individual strategies, interventions, processes, developments, models, theories and planning systems in order to make life in the constantly growing cities possible, increasingly also under the pressure to conserve resources and distribute them fairly.
Strategies for Medellín
The Medellín metropolitan area’s recent development strategies suggest more integrated ways of collaboration between cities, as a city of cities. New connections have been forged between, and within, the various settlements of the Aburrá Valley in Colombia. Author: Martignoni, Maria Jimena
Urban Acupuncture in Caracas
Inspired by the self-organizing qualities of Venezuelan slums, Urban-Think Tank Caracas propose a way of working with the city that is at once formal and informal, generative, adaptive, and socially and environmentally sensitive. Author: Klumpner, Hubert, Brillembourg , Alfredo
City of all Colours and Shades
To be able to stay competitive with other world cities, Rio de Janeiro initiated several redevelopment projects in the past decade. They helped upgrade favelas and city districts such as the Centro as well as public open space. Author: Ribbeck, Eckhart
Dirty Work
Two different strategies for landscape interventions in informal cities in Argentina and Brazil show the significance of landscape in improving the quality of life in low-income settlements. Author: Werthmann, Christian, Beardsley, John
Making Milan a Permeable City
A slow city in fast times, Milan is taking advantage of the forthcoming Expo 2015 to rearrange its open spaces. Usually perceived as a city of much work and no play, Lombardy’s main city wants to promote its green potential and open up new and old liveable public spaces. Author: Kipar, Andreas
The Connected City
Rotterdam’s city centre will undergo a true metamorphosis: by strengthening the urban open spaces, the present lack of public realm should improve significantly. Author: Knuijt, Martin
Development of St. Petersburg
The urban development of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second city with a population of 4.8 million, is realizing a master plan which will guide the city’s growth until 2025. Author: Nefedov, Valery
People in the City
The Dutch photographer Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk chose Berlin as his base 20 years ago. From there he sets out for the cities of the 21st century. His pictures do more than show stone and glass they tell stories about the people in big and very big cities. Author: Ouwerkerk, Erik-Jan
Seoul: Collective Alzheimer’s
The South Korean capital Seoul almost completely disregards its history and its tradition. An ongoing process of demolition and construction erases the traces of the past from the cityscape. The Author describes facets of the ahistorical amnesiac character of the metropolis. Author: Kim , Young-ha
Neither Archetype nor Exception
An exuberant city with a thriving economy yet with over 60 per cent of its people living in slums, the Indian city of Mumbai - formerly Bombay - faces immense challenges, ranging from large-scale infrastructure failure to the threat of religious violence. Author: Gandy, Matthew
Transforming Urban Landscapes
The Dhanmondi Lake redevelopment in flood-prone Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a paradigmatic strategic urban project in a growing city. The scheme simultaneously restores and manages a significant urban water resource, provides public recreation spaces, and incorporates clever design strategies to avoid encroachment by the city. Author: Nilufar , Farida
Development in China: High Speed, High Rise, High Price
Rapid and dramatic urban growth is not new in China’s history, and recently has brought many positive changes, but urbanization is now happening at such a scale as to raise serious environmental questions and call for a radical rethink of how Chinese cities expand. Author: Selugga, Malte
Landscape Architecture in Switzerland
Awareness for landscape architecture in Switzerland barely existed for a while. In the 1990s, however, the profession started to play an important role again. Nowadays other planning disciplines such as architecture and town planning as well as political Authorities accept landscape architects as equal partners. Even internationally, Swiss firms repeatedly attract attention. Author: Schubert , Christoph
