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.
How can we transcend slum urbanism in Africa? - Edgar Pieterse, University of Cape Town
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.
Slums - Past, Present and Future - Eugenie Birch, University of Pennsylvania
In this lecture, Eugenie Birch draws heavily on history to illustrate the location, pace, trajectory, documentation and varied solutions of historic slum conditions in Western Europe and North America; tracking contemporary slum development in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and outlines the commonalities and differences with past experience. Birch places slum development in stages that correspond to the urbanization rates and peak growth of slums of the places in question, and discusses adaptations, their benefits and costs.
‘Making room for a planet of cities’ - Shlomo (Solly) Angel, Stern School of Business, New York University
The lecture is based on the realization that the current urban planning paradigm championed in the United States and Europe—the Containment Paradigm, also known as urban growth management, smart growth, or compact city—is inappropriate in the rapidly-urbanizing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Instead, it calls for a new paradigm for coming to terms with rapid urbanization: The Making Room Paradigm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GknqMC4B2o
Urban Planning and Design
Urban planning and design area supports Governments and cities with tested approaches, guidelines and tools to support urban growth and improved sustainability, efficiency and equity through planning and design at all levels and scales. Efforts are focused on ensuring that planning and designing contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.