4. Metropolization and the Right to the City

 

While essential for the liveability and vibrant urban life that marketing and branding strategies seek to depict, our cities gradually lose their diversity and dynamism. The metropolises of the world are becoming more segregated by the year. They become more exclusive as people settle in, while in the past, they were melting pots of newcomers and the loci for challenging the status quo. The demonstrations in the 1960s were an effort to retake control of the governing of the city, illustrating the people's claim to the Right to the City. The renewed attention for this right (e.g. its appearance in the New Urban Agenda) emphasises the urgency for city planners and designers to act on their social responsibility. In this session, we explore this duty together with just and sustainable approaches to citification, in a time and age where economic performance, city branding, and segregation become more dominant. Together we will explore alternative urban scenarios and visions.



Track leader:
Dr. Caroline Newton
Dr. QU Lei