STATE OF THE WORLD'S CITIES 2012/2013 Prosperity

As suggested earlier, it is in the power of well-calibrated
planning rules and interventions to help embed the five
dimensions of shared prosperity across the length and
breadth of any urban jurisdiction.
Making more functional the city, preserving access to the
commons and producing useful public goods can be achieved
through five different, sustainable types of intervention:
Increase population density to sustainable levels: More
intense land occupation and activities result in sustainable
population densities which contain or reduce urban sprawl
and depletion of limited resources. Greater proximity will, in
turn, facilitate supply and distribution of goods and services.
An efficient layout (together with adequate land legislation
and policies) can reduce the cost of infrastructure. On top
of suburban densification and sprawl remediation, land use
can be intensified through area redevelopment, planning for
new areas with higher densities, ‘brownfield’ development
(i.e., decontaminating and developing land previously used
for industrial or certain commercial purposes), building
conversions, and transit-oriented developments.
Encourage social
diversity and mixed
land-use: Land planning
can bring about
clusters of land uses in
appropriate locations,
with the flexibility
needed to adapt to the
changing requirements
of the population. Urban
planning must facilitate the
deployment of common
spaces that allow encounter,
interaction and dialogue
between different socialethnic
groups. Moreover,
physical urban structure
facilitates communication
between economic activities
and residential areas,
providing employment
and services on a
neighbourhood scale, with
positive repercussions on
productivity, infrastructure,
equity, quality of life and
the environment. Urban
design strengthens and
Innovating to Support the Transition to the City of the 21st Century
113
POLICy
Acting at the space level (form and function of the
city), urban planning can steer the overall functioning
of the ‘wheel’, modulating each dimension of prosperity and
ensuring synergies between them in order to maintain overall
balance and sustainable growth, regardless of city size or level of
development.
empowers structures through infrastructure and facilities
(education, healthcare, commerce, manufacturing and
culture/entertainment).
Devise multimodal mobility strategies: Urban planning
can provide alternatives to the current widespread
dependency on private motorised vehicles and reinforce
London, UK: the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics Stratford
was constructed on brownfield sites in an area of East London
that had been previously rundown. After the Olympic games, the
site is to be used to accommodate low cost housing as well as
leisure activities.
© 2012 Alistair Laming/fotoLIBRA.com