Expanding Cities - Diminishing Space
Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Urban Planning, Regional Development and Information Society
Published on 6. April 2018
Software
CD-ROM
762 pages
978-3-9504173-4-0 (ISBN)
Description
The world's total population is expected to hit the 10 billion point in the 2060s, more than 70 % living in urban areas.
Cities are not only growing in population, but are expanding in area. Also transport infrastructure, industrial zones, shopping centres, logistics centres, event and leisure facilities etc. consume additional space. As a consequence cities also grow into 3rd dimension: "up into the sky" and "going underground". Many cities kind of expand in time, become "cities that never sleep", extending their urban activities to 24 hours per day all the year round - 24/365. Even in countries and regions with constant or declining population numbers, it is still the cities that attract people.
While the "hunger" in the literal sense for food and resources is growing, the "spaces in between", especially agricultural land, but also natural retreats and buffer zones are diminishing.
These aspects of city expansion do not only lead to massive changes all over the world, they also arise multiple challenges, chances and risks which have to be dealt with in planning processes. On the one hand there is the threat that the permanent demand for more space leads to a number of consequences such as scarcity of resources, infrastructural bottlenecks, pollution and devastation of land or social conflicts. On the other hand more and more unprecedented (urban) technologies are available to monitor and manage cities. Monitoring is as well done by remote sensing in stunning precision, and by extensive sensor networks in (almost) real time.
However, with all the technology in focus of course the goals of sustainability and resilience remain as important as they have always been. Cities are mainly about people and not about technology, so it is still "quality of life" that should be in focus.
Cities are not only growing in population, but are expanding in area. Also transport infrastructure, industrial zones, shopping centres, logistics centres, event and leisure facilities etc. consume additional space. As a consequence cities also grow into 3rd dimension: "up into the sky" and "going underground". Many cities kind of expand in time, become "cities that never sleep", extending their urban activities to 24 hours per day all the year round - 24/365. Even in countries and regions with constant or declining population numbers, it is still the cities that attract people.
While the "hunger" in the literal sense for food and resources is growing, the "spaces in between", especially agricultural land, but also natural retreats and buffer zones are diminishing.
These aspects of city expansion do not only lead to massive changes all over the world, they also arise multiple challenges, chances and risks which have to be dealt with in planning processes. On the one hand there is the threat that the permanent demand for more space leads to a number of consequences such as scarcity of resources, infrastructural bottlenecks, pollution and devastation of land or social conflicts. On the other hand more and more unprecedented (urban) technologies are available to monitor and manage cities. Monitoring is as well done by remote sensing in stunning precision, and by extensive sensor networks in (almost) real time.
However, with all the technology in focus of course the goals of sustainability and resilience remain as important as they have always been. Cities are mainly about people and not about technology, so it is still "quality of life" that should be in focus.