Cities in the Future – Outline for a Joint Program

 Evolution of Cities
 The Role of Cities
 Major Challenges for Cities
 The Promise of Technologies
 The Manifold Benefits of a Joint Program
„The Future of Cities“

 „Future of Cities“ as a new mission which tackles

urgent social needs and problems. Thus it delivers a
high social added value.

 „Future of Cities“ encompass generic technologies at

the forefront of technological development. Thus it
delivers a high economic added value.

 “Future of Cities” as a clear and distinctive European

dimension. Thus it delivers a high European added
value.
 Understanding the Different Evolution of Cities in
the U.S. Versus Europe

European City

Social norms & institutions; Policy & Planning

• Historical City Centre
• Roots go back to the
medieval ages
• Industrialization in the Foto
19th Century
• Strict Regulation /
Planning

Market Transactions
American City

• Port City
• Transport Hub
• Industrial City Foto
• Frontier Town
• …
 Challenges to the European Urban Model

 Hypothesis: The European Urban Model is superior

in regard to sustainability and for reducing the
ecological footprint while maintaining an integrated
society
 Hypothesis: The combination of given individual
preferences and market forces tend to ‚produce‘ the
American Model
 Conclusion: The European Urban Model is in
constant pressure between market forces,
institutional settings & norms and historical heritage
Urban Spaces In Europe – The Large Picture
• Highly Urbanized: Europe is to
be understood as an Urban
Europe
• Several Clusters / Poles of
Urban Regions
• Several Axes of Urban
Regions
 The role of cities in modern society

 The city as incubator & producer of innovation

- Overwhelming bulk of innovation relevant infrastructures is
concentrated in urban areas (universities, R&D facilities etc.)
- Skilled Human capital is concentrated in urban areas
- Innovative milieus
- Cities are the ‘birth-places’ of the future(s)

 The city as user of innovation

- Early adoption of innovation in urban areas
- Urban areas as diffusion nodes
- New technologies often explicitly express needs of cities
(infrastructure) or urban societies
 Major Challenges for Cities and Their Societies

 Demographic Change (Ageing)

 Multi-ethnic urban societies
 Security issues
 Mobility: Individual and Public Transport
 Economy:
- Coping with the Information Age
- Managing industrial / economic change
- Labor markets
 Ecology:
- Sustainability
- Energy
- Air pollution, waste management
- Spatial Change: Density versus Urban Sprawl
Urban ‚Dialectics‘ in the Age of Postmodernity

Autenthicity Simulacrum
Function Form
Society Individualism
Planning Markets
 The Promise of Technology: Are There Quick
Technological Fixes?

 Diffusion of technologies
 Lock-in
 Path-dependency
 Network effects
 Sunk costs
 Barriers to diffusion
 Social, institutional and regulatory framework
 Incentives
 Market structures
 Understanding the (Possible) Futures of the City:
Different Scenarios

 Convergence of City types to a world “role model”

based on the U.S. type?
 Will there still be a place for a unique European-type
city?
 Megacities, suburbs and exurbs: Dystopia or
Utopia?
 Urban spaces versus distinct cities?
 …
 The Future of Cities - A Holistic Approach

Social needs & norms

Policy
&
Governance

Markets
Urban Planning

Technological
Fixes

Understanding the
future of cities
Future of Cities: Demographic Change

• Ageing

• Immigration

• Multi-ethnic societies

• Security

• Gentrification

• New social divides

• …
Future of Cities: Ecology & Sustainability

• Today 80 % of the world

population live in urban areas
• Pollution in urban areas
• Transportation in and between
urban areas
• Urban density is an efficient
means to reduce the ecological
footprint of modern societies
• Technological fixes are readily
available AND do have a large
potential for future improvements
• Accelerating the diffusion of
available technological fixes by
enhancing incentives and
reducing barriers
Future of Cities: Pollution

• Air pollution / Smog

• Water pollution

• Waste problem
• End-of-pipe technologies

• Clean technologies
Future of Cities: Urban Density

• Exploiting inner urban spaces

• Intra-urban city development
• “Greening” of urban environment
• Securing the historical heritage
• Modernizing the built structures
• Modernizing the urban
infrastructures
• asdf
Future of Cities: Transportation

• Modal Split / Co-modality

• Public versus Private Transport
• Telematics
• e-Commuting
• …
• …
Future of Cities: Technology Fixes

• Information & Communication

Technologies
• New Energy Technologies &
Concepts
• New Mobility Paradigms /
New modes of transportation
• Social Innovations and new
social networks
Future of Cities: Technology Fixes - Energy

• New Energy Technologies &

Concepts

• Renewable energy sources

• Efficient distribution /
Intelligent grids
Future of Cities: Technology Fixes - ICT

• ICT: Developing the “e-City”

(W-Lan, …)

• Ambient Intelligence

• Embedded Systems

• Internet of Things / RFID

• e-Learning

• e-business solutions
Technological Fixes: Barriers and Incentives

• Norms / Institutions /
Regulation
• Sunk costs (Network effects)
• Overcoming the path-
dependency of existing
structures
• Cost structures
• (Individual) Incentives
The European Challenge:
Combining Tradition with Innovation

• Preserving Heritage

• Utilizing Tradition
• Open to Innovation

• Open to Social Change

• …
• …
European Cities at the Crossroads: Quo Vadis?