Megacities 10 : Towards the megacities solution

Dublin Core

A handful of megacity regions in the advanced and advancing economies, as clusters of large and overlapping daily urban systems are the prime powerhouses and central nodes of the world network economy. These regions, from the US North East, the Euro delta in Europe (including the Randstad, Belgium’s large cities and the Ruhr Area) to the Pearl River Delta, face not only complicated economic challenges but also demographic and natural challenges that clearly demand strategic planning and development at the scale of the megacity region. The international congress organized by the Dutch Megacity Foundation at the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology in November 2008, addressed these various challenges. how can planning at the scale of the Megacity cope with the challenges within, and tensions between, the realms of people, planet & profit? is there potential for (more) synergy between these three realms at the megacity scale, and how can planning help in realizing this potential? These are the central questions to be addressed, whereby the perspective will move from profit to planet to people and finally food, as a topic of special interest in the present situation.