Publications

Livable City Regions for the 21^st Century

25th International Conference on Urban Planning, Regional Development, Information Society and Urban, Transport, and Environmental Technologies

Manfred Schrenk, Vasily V. Popovich, Peter Zeile, Pietro Elisei, Clemens Beyer, Judith Ryser, Christa Reicher, Canan Çelik (Eds.)

At the beginning of the 21st century, the question of how we should shape the future of our cities and regions is more important than ever. Urban spaces are becoming the central form of organization of almost all human societies. In the emerging and developing countries, the force of the urbanization surge is becoming visible. The urban population is growing as people move out of rural areas; this growth process is accompanied by social change. In many parts of Europe a fundamental paradigm shift is taking place: from a phase of shrinking and stagnation to enormous growth of cities and regions. It is not only the large cities that are coming under real pressure; medium-sized and small towns and cities are also facing the challenge of how to meet the demands of climate change and the associated need to secure open spaces on the one hand, and to densify and make available space for living and working on the other.

Christa Reicher, Fabio Bayro-Kaiser, Maram Tawil, Janset Shawash, Katrin Bäumer, Jan Polívka (Eds.)

The challenges rapid urbanization encompasses are manifold, so are the efforts addressing sustainable and inclusive development frameworks. “Reclaiming Public Space through Intercultural Dialogue” is an intercultural and interdisciplinary initiative, which focuses on how social and spatial segregation can be overcome in metropolitan areas. Through joint research and teaching activities in the cities of Dortmund and Amman, three comprehensive topics emerged: urban transformation and the role of public space; social and cultural dimensions of cities; and nature-based planning approaches. The book compiles contributions to these topics from researchers, practitioners, and students, which were presented in an international conference held at the German Jordanian University in Madaba, Jordan, in November 2017