Christian Werthmann from Leibniz University, Hannover, summarizes his international experience of non-formal urbanism into ten points aimed to act as a guideline for designers intending to work in these contexts. Based on real life experiences and research he describes what is essential to keep in mind when designing towards sustainable urbanization in dense urban environments. This lecture was filmed in association to the Metropolis Nonformal - Anticipation symposium in Munich 2013 including the launch of the Laufen Manifesto for a Humane Design Culture.

The Urban Planning and Design focus area of UN-Habitat aims to support cities, regional and national authorities in adopting improved policies, plans and designs for more compact, socially inclusive, better integrated and connected cities that foster sustainable urban development and are resilient to climate change. This lecture provides an introduction on why this is relevant and how it can be achieved.

In this lecture, Stefan Schurig (World Future Council) talks about the vision of regenerative cities as the greening of the urban environment and the protection of nature from urban expansion, and above all else, about the greening of urban systems of production, consumption and construction. Schurig proposes necessities to transform cities into 'regenerative' systems.

Based on her work experience in post-Katrina New Orleans and post-Sandy New York City, the Municipal Art Society of New York's Director of Urban Resilience and Livability, Mary Rowe, discusses the role of self-organization and granular innovation in urban resilience-building.  Highlighting examples from New Orleans, New York City, and cities around the globe, Ms. Rowe focuses on the need for a collaborative process to build resilience that takes advantage of the systems and features already in place in the urban ecosystem.

In his lecture on "Post-industrial dynamics and urban housing", Hugo Priemus advocates a mixed urban housing strategy to provide high-quality urban housing for knowledge workers and affordable housing for middle- and low-income households. 

In this lecture, Janice Perlman discusses urban informality against the background of 40 years of research in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The lecture lays particular emphasis on how the changes over this timespan have affected the lives of the people in the favelas. She concludes by introducing the Mega-Cities project strategy to 'shorten the lag time between ideas and implementation' in urban problem solving.

In this lecture, Edgar Pieterse, professor at the University of Cape Town and the founding director of the African Centre for Cities, puts forward the concept of the underlying logic of slum urbanism. This logic in turn manifests in an overall urban form that can be characterised as 'extreme splintered urbanism'—a pattern of urban development that manifests in sharp urban divides, the privatisation of key urban services and infrastructure linked to large-scale slum neglect over long periods of time. 

Urban Jonsson - Executive Director at The Owls and former regional director of UNICEF, in this lecture outlines a human rights based approach to sustainable urban development. Starting from the basic premise that 'all humans are born good', he discusses how this applies to the ongoing global efforts to achieve a sustainable urban future.

In this lecture, Anna Heringer presents a series of projects where the choice of building materials and techniques has had a major influence on distribution of resources, participation and equality. Emphasizing that 'we cannot build houses of only steel and concrete for seven billion people' she proposes a strategy of bringing global creativity to the local materials, local skills and local potentials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KQhbx3e_JM

This lecture outlines the impact of participation on practice, in particular how it can expand the scope and nature of practice in order to add strategic value to practical work. Nabeel Hamdi introduces the issues of equity and efficiency and their convergence in participatory work, and articulates the value of participation in building community and in human development.