The Entrepreneurial City

‘The Entrepreneurial City’ is the theme for the 10th conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU). Nine conferences have been held in various countries across the world. In face of global and local environmental, social and economic challenges, the conference brings together international planners and designers to deliberate on theories, design and practices related to the entrepreneurial city. The conference will be hosted by the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong on December 14-16, 2017.
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Public Space for all Nations

Good public spaces enhance community cohesion and promote health, happiness, and wellbeing for all citizens.

It has been with this quote that UN Habitat launched the Global Public Space Programme in an aim to improve the quality of public spaces worldwide. Of course, without doubt, the programme stands for a crucial challenge to make our urbanised world better, but what to do? The ideas on this have been matured and agreements seem to saturate the scope at the recent Habitat III conference held last week in Quito. A list of final set criteria is emerging, but this cannot mean that we’re done… By no means this listing will work if stakeholders do not accept that people gather on a variety of places around the globe, in a variety of cultures, hence not just in those urban spaces which are created by Western idealists’ minds: publicly-owned outdoor space.
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UN: Public Spaces for All

Happy World Habitat Day!

The purpose of World Habitat Day, October 5th 2015, is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. This year the United Nations chose the theme ‘Public Spaces for All designed to live Together’ as very relevant for the Habitat Agenda.

World Habitat Day 2015

The objectives of World Habitat Day 2015 aim to raise awareness about the need for well designed and managed public spaces and streets. Great to see that one of the key themes of my research group Design of Urban Fabrics takes centre stage also for UN Habitat.
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see:
Urban October: World Habitat Day
UN-Habitat – United Nations Human Settlements Programme
United Nations Office at Nairobi