Trends in Urban Design

Urban planning practice will undergo significant changes in the upcoming decades, due to major changes and challenges the world has to deal with, such as loss of biodiversity loss, climate change impacts, agricultural transformation, water management issues and health. The way the urban professional has to relate to this new order is explored in this book by collecting a series of conversational chapters with local, regional, national and international experts in the fields of urban planning and design, urban and building development, building and construction industry, architecture, governments and academia. The unification of a desirable future with real world processes such as economic and decision-making practice is key. Moreover, the attitude of the future urban professional will more and more shift from an expert in a specific field to a communicative advisor in complex processes.

Prof. dr. ir. Rob Roggema is Professor of Regenerative Culture at TEC de Monterrey, Mexico. He is a Landscape Architect and an internationally renowned design-expert on regenerative design, sustainable urbanism, climate adaptation, energy landscapes and urban agriculture. He has previously held positions at universities in the Netherlands and Australia, State and Municipal governments and design consultancies. Rob developed the Swarm Planning concept, a dynamic way of planning the city for future adaptation to climate change impacts. Rob is principal consultant and founder of Cittaideale, office for Adaptive planning and design research. He worked on concepts such as a Nature-rich Netherlands, the Moeder Zernike climate adaptive landscape, and the plan for a free Meuse.

Rob has designed and led over 30 design charrettes around the world, involving communities, academics, governments and industries in design processes for more resilient communities. He is the series editor of the Contemporary Urban Design Thinking series. Additionally, he has written books on climate adaptation and design, Urban Agriculture, and about design charrettes, Rio's FoodRoofs and Design for Recovery in Japan.