Liveable Cities—Urbanising World

This book is about the unprecedented challenges facing the world’s cities as they expand and develop in response to demographic change, human aspirations and the forces of globalization. Most of that growth is taking place in the developing countries and it is here that the megacities (places with over ten million people) seem destined to emerge during the next few decades. While there are considerable variations in the rates of city expansion between and within the different world regions, much of that growth has taken place as formless urban sprawl, as well as the slums and squatter settlements to be found in many of the world’s cities.
These urbanizing areas face acute economic, social and environmental problems. They stem from, amongst other things, fundamental changes in the nature of work, the economic crisis that began in 2008, the continuing, and often growing, inequalities within the urban population and from the severe pollution and hazardous living conditions that afflict many urban communities. Without suitable action to address them, those problems are likely to worsen as the effects of human induced climate change become ever more apparent.
So how can our cities become truly liveable places? Published in tandem with ISOCARP’s 47th World Congress held in Wuhan, China, the many case studies in this publication describe new planning and other approaches that seek to create more sustainable, more liveable, cities.

Chris Gossop, International Society of City and Regional Planners
Shi Nan, Urban Planning Society of China

Part 1: Countries and City Regions 1. Making Indian Cities Liveable: The Challenges of India’s Urban Transformation 2. The Urban Reform Process in Brazil 3. Netherlands – The Utrecht Roadmap to a Third Industrial Revolution 4. Steps towards Sustainable Development in the Portland Metropolitan Area 5. Amsterdam 2040: A Planning of Stories, Dialogue and Angels Part 2: Studies and Strategies 6. Urban Planet: Designing Critical Urbanisation Processes to Heal and Share the World 7. Urban Liveability – the Climatic Dimension 8. Strategies for Integrated Spatial Development along the North-South Railway Link from Rotterdam to Genoa 9. The Contribution of Mobility to Sustainable Cities 10. Linking People, Linking Nature: The Park Connector Network of Singapore 11. City of the Future as a Russian Hi-Tech Hub 12. The London Olympics – Planning for a Long Term Legacy Part 3: China Reports 13. Spatial Planning in the City of Wuhan 14. Low Carbon Cities: Is our Planning System Ready Yet? 15. Knowledge Based Adaptive Re-use of China’s Industrial Heritage 16. Planning for Disasters and Emergencies 17. Comprehensive Transport Planning for Liveable Cities in Yunnan Central Region 18. Providing Affordable housing in China