INVESTIGADORES
KOZAK Daniel Matias
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
World Cities and Urban Form: fragmented or polycentric and sustainable?
Autor/es:
JENKS, MIKE; KOZAK, DANIEL
Lugar:
Bangkok, Tailandia
Reunión:
Conferencia; UPE7-The 7th International Conference on Urban Planning and Environment; 2007
Institución organizadora:
Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Tailandia
Resumen:
A considerable literature exists about how to make cities and urban regions more sustainable, but most of this research relates to the West – Europe, the USA and Australasia. One key concept that makes claims to achieve sustainable urban form is that of the compact city, but the relevance of this idea in a world context is less certain. In the world’s major cities achieving an urban form that is in any way sustainable seems a long way from implementation. Even so, a number of possible strategies or solutions have begun to emerge, and perhaps the most persuasive is the idea for polycentric development at the urban regional and city scale. At the regional scale this includes decentralised cities surrounding large cities that are connected and networked. At the city scale it includes the intensification of development around transportation nodes, and the linking of dense pockets of development, giving cities a varied density profile. However, this very process of decentralisation, intensification and development could equally generate problems, for example leading to areas of urban gentrification where the poor are displaced. Such attempts at regeneration could become unsustainable, and indeed could result in development that is fragmented from rather than integrated into the city or region. This paper explores the tension between polycentric and potentially sustainable development, and urban fragmentation, not just physically, but also in a wider cultural, social and economic context. It considers the cases of Bangkok and Buenos Aires and assesses in theory the potential for world cities and very large cities to achieve urban forms that could be manipulated to work more sustainably.