The new urban question : Urbanism beyond neo-liberalism

Dublin Core

“The New Urban Question – Urbanism beyond Neo-liberalism” is the title of the 4th Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU) that will take place from November 26th to 28th, 2009 at Zuiderkerk in Amsterdam and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). The theme of the conference is about the recovery of the discipline of Urbanism under the conditions of urbanization and urban transformation, ecological threats and economical crises.

More than 35 years after the publication of La Question Urbaine by Manuel Castells the urban question has to be asked anew. In the meantime the world is experiencing the fastest urbanization in history of man. Never before has human society gone through a comparable process of urban growth, nor have cities expanded as today. Within a few decennia new mega-cities or even meta-cities arose that are confronting the world with new urban cultures, with increasing social contradictions and with new and unknown environmental threats. On the other hand, more than half of the urban population worldwide is living in middle-sized cities up to 500.000 inhabitants that have become the major catchment areas for future population growth.

For decennia urban development has been dominated by a globalizing economy and almost unlimited market demands. While economic power more and more became concentrated in global command centers, the influence of public planning decreased in the framework of governmental decentralization. However, the recent economical crisis has shown the limits of growth under the conditions of neo-liberalism. New models for urban development, new concepts for urban design and new approaches for planning and management are demanded that are able to guide the processes of extension and transformation of cities and regions, to bridge social contradictions, to combat segregation and fragmentation and to face the ecological challenges. With other words: The discipline of Urbanism has to be rediscovered.

Sub-themes :

A.The new urban Economy
B. The Urbanized Society
C. Urban Technologies and Sustainability
D. The New Urban Form
E. The New Metropolitan Region
F. Changing Planning Cultures and Governance