From the traditional art of city-making to the science of
future-ready cities.
Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/
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The cycle of the “city in making” through centuries somewhat
seems to follow this evolutionary pattern.
TRADITIONAL ART OF CITY MAKING
a. Greenfield
cities
[Utopian vision > identified potential > anchor
economic activity as a growth magnet (or) infrastructure and real estate stock
as a pull factor > achieving saturation and autonomous target functionality
sooner or later > gets into brownfield city cycle]
b. Brownfield
Cities
[Organic growth > agglomeration as a centre of the
economy > critical mass > the influx of population > additive
infrastructure and real estate stock as coping mechanism > deterioration of
the environment and degradation of the quality of life > urban overhaul as
remedial measures > agglomeration continues to grow and get caught in a
remedial cycle > confrontation with new age climate emergency >
sense-making and search for coping mechanism continues]
What is noteworthy here in terms of the evolution of the
traditional art of city-making, is that despite the wealth of learning, the
city-making process still seems to be caught at the remedial stage.
FUTURE-READY CITY
Two preconditions of a future-ready city seem to be on the
horizon.
A. Finding new
meanings and ways to make use of technology that is at doorsteps.
It appears that the summation of the plethora of technological aid that we have access to, for city-making until now, still only primarily served the purpose of sense-making and has only been used as a coping mechanism.
On the other side, the technology that is maturing and
emerging right now, be it machine vision, automation, parametric, sensor
fusion, LLM, advanced robotics, 5G/6G, quantum computing, or carbon capture
etc., with AI as a binding factor, holds potential unlike anything witnessed
before and offers an opportunity for potential application in the city-making
unlike before and thus holds the key to achieve future-ready cities. The
unprecedented pace of technological evolution that we witness today and onwards,
seem to indicate that this is the ripe time to move away from the vicious cycle
of remedial measure and coping mechanism associated with traditional
city-making and city-retrofitting and leverage this opportunity to reflect and
build something new, i.e., the future-ready city, be it greenfield or
brownfield or a new type.
B. The governance
must outpace technological breakthroughs.
While a comprehensive policy and robust governance framework
are essential for managing the dynamic entity called “city”, it is essential
that governance in any part of the world, itself has to be future-ready by
thinking deep into the future, generating future-ready policies based on
simulations, and hence must outpace the technological breakthrough.
Author: Anoop Jha
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[Recent update
Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.
Please Note, that I am also conducting a FREE 45-minute online individual consultation on your interior design and home decor needs and aspirations if you are in the Netherlands or even internationally. Drop me an email at anoop.jha@gmail.com
Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/
Instagram interior design page @urbantenets
Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional
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#IOT #5G #Rotterdam #Amsterdam #Utrecht #Eindhoven #Hague #Denhaag #Netherlands