For the first time in human history, more than half the world population is living in urban environments. Globalization has strengthened the important role of large cities as the preferred environment for the political, economical, cultural work and social contact point of the world. Such contact is also increasing as world income is rising – in spite of the crises. Cities must handle sustainability, mobility and socio-diversity, and challenging infrastructure issues.
Socio-diversity is about all kind of people coming together having different backgrounds, nationalities, varying income levels, ages, religions, races, ways of life. We must create community feeling, build safety, find the willingness to use the streets, squares, parks, markets, buildings, facilities, malls.
Streets must not be lifeless – a certain degree of life and bustle must be there. We must stimulate the city. People must be seen, move, do things, throngs are sometimes what is wanted. Street mass and vibrant energy is also wanted.
Democratic participation in sustaining and forming the city must also be considered. Socio-diversity makes this difficult, but the users of the city should increasingly take part in making the city: new forms of democracy and consensus may be needed.
So half of us live in cities and we therefore must make sure it is good to be there. Surely there are many good cities – or partly good – but it is early days for many cities. But planners have seen the light and are at work putting theory into practice – the work – live – play towns are emerging. The city must also be felt to buzz and vibrate.
Pressure on city centers are increasing: find the best land, buy it, develop it so that you are in the thick of serving the needs of businesses and consumers throughout the day. Very often old parts of cities are pulled down, thereby losing some qualities. Commercial and community interests must be balanced.
Urban communities must now be sustainable communities, and 24/7 communities.
A city can not be a completely new place, it needs a history, a memory, a recognizable feel and touch. So planning should be a permanent process, do it all the time, but slowly to make time to think, gain experience and see what is good. We must take care of heritage, make the city grow, forming it, creating new and great activity spaces.
People of all ages must be accommodated and cared for so that they find the city a good place.
Working and leisure habits of city folk and travellers/tourists must be in the works. With increasing world travel taking place we must take into account that many people in the town does not know it very well and need assistance and facilities to get on: advicing offices, marked paths, good signs….
Cars are a pain for the cities now, and car traffic must be changed. Many cities now have car-free zones, speed restrictions, traffic in tunnels. Car are also dynamic and create bustle and often convenience, so a broad thinking must be applied.
Communal areas areas and commercial areas within cities will offer, eating, walking, sport, rest and recuperation areas, and the division of labour between official and commercial interest may change – maybe into symbiosis.
Cultural activities like theatre, cinema, the arts, concerts of many kinds are also part of an urban community. This makes it relaxing and entertaining to be part of city life.
Innovative retail concepts will continue to grow, with more services added and a good connection to the experience scene. Performance, installation, sculpture will fill the urban retail space.
Street markets will increasingly return to urban areas and will be a method for local producers to develop a connection with the locals, and a way for office workers to develop a second stream of income by selling wares in the market.
Conversation will again become the best way to communicate: face to face is best.
Urban areas with access to meditation, yoga, stillness and quiet spaces will be able to attract a premium for their product offerings.
Artists will move into urban spaces to perform: more informal, performance, low-key, improvise, jugglers, illusionists, street artists.
Comprehensive long-term planning will be required, and the word comprehensive will take on a new meaning – it must include most things and be open to innovation and incompleteness: Energy, water, land, activities and much more.
Cities will increasingly be planned as walkable high-density compact towns, varied housing, good ubiqutous mass public transport. Parks – including miniparks – , shops, schools, libraries, etc. must be located to reduce travel, with covered walkways, separate bikeways, good pedestrian links. Planning of community events must also be integrated in the setup.
Sports areas and stadiums, facilities must be placed sensibly.
The character of each district should be taken care of: history, people, character, scenery, charm. Also evaluate shopping areas, food places, plazas.
Air quality, noise levels should be monitored and kept acceptable. Too little noise makes a dead city?
Access to digital, online information is now found everywhere and urban information systems can be developed that can give you all that is happening in the city via screens in many places: only fantasy can tell what to include.
Towns should also have production facilities: growing and production of food, energy generation, light manufacturing – to see how things are done. Variety will come with that, making the city more buzzworthy.
There will be open spaces for recreation, wide sidewalks, small mini parks with play areas, others with quieter places where people can meet to play chess, domino, urban sport.
Parking is controlled and preferably located outside city centers, charging facilities for electric or hydrogen cars are found. Shared places for bikes, trams or low carbon buses are separated from the sidewalk by greenery like trees, bushes, green walls. Bikes, electric mopeds and stackable electric cars are allowed.
Intelligent transport systems with video surveillance will provide real-time updates and optimisation of traffic signals, demand management measures will be used.
Mobility is important. Road and rail systems are integrated using hubs and nodes with feeders. Wheelchairs are also part of the system. Public transport via trains, trams, rail systems, buses must be the preferred mode of travel – because it is the best: Good coverage, seamless connectivity, high reliability, comfort, low travel time, cheap fares.
A planning structure seems important, with zoning of functions, layers of planning, time horizons, some principles.
It seems cities are improving – we are getting better at fixing them up!