REAL CORP 2020: SHAPING URBAN CHANGE
Livable City Regions for the 21st 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.