Behind the spontaneous, organic, catalyzing or naturally renewing city hides an underlying movement from (planned) urban expansion to the (more organic) renewal of existing urban structures: from ‘making a city' to ‘being a city'. This brings up new tensions and questions both in design and in strategy. Here are five of them:
Disciplines no longer wait for one another
They mutually inform one another, always in different formation. How do we achieve a new cohesion between hardware (the physical), software (the cultural, economic and social) and orgware (coalitions)? The distinction between development and management is disappearing. Development management is the future, but how do we actually get to that place of management as an instrument of development?
The surprise element is constant
Inflexible targets no longer work, but ad hoc planning is not a solution either. Especially in existing cities, restructuring can only happen with vision, soul and inspiration. How do we combine the image in the distance with short-term investment commitments?
The number of partners is exploding
Thousands of established owners, investors and city users fragment both the investment capital and the control mechanisms. New networks are necessary. How do we avoid endless discussion groups with little or no authority? How do we resist the temptation to lock public-private cooperations into such rigid contracts that they collide with the chaotic reality of the city?
The temporary becomes permanent
Though the term temporary is much too suggestive of an end point to the temporal and experimental phase, the city is never really ‘finished'. Even areas of shrinkage can have important qualitative shifts in demand. How do we make this catalyzing trial-and-error method a permanent feature in our approach?
These shifts gradually lead to a new profession of urban development: a network-orientated approach that moves between order and chaos, spontaneity and long-term quality, strategically-places acupuncture and new public domain. With new phenomena such as baseboard strategies, area coalitions, natural neighborhood renewal, cultural economy, supraregionale shrinkage strategies, youth-run festivals or city square management. This is the mature profession of the urban planner, operating based on urban, distric and concept levels: complex, challenging and exciting.
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Contact: Jeroen Laven
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