Context/Background 

We are all familiar with the numbers of future urban populations and the related need of sustainable urban and regional development. Our globalizing world is confronting researchers, planners and implementing organizations with increasing complexities. Challenges of natural risks, social injustices, and culturally based behavioral differences affect our daily work. In the past the effect of accelerating global urbanization has been extensively studied and affected the practice of planners. The main focus here has been on existing and future megacities for several years. The Urban Age Programme by the London School of Economics and the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft and the programme Research for the Sustainable Development of Magacities of Tomorrow by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) illustrate successful initiatives of the past. 

Description of the Session

The session will introduce innovative planning approaches from a newly setup long-term funding programme of BMBF called Sustainable Urban Development of Urban Regions (SURE). In total it stretches over a period of more than eight years with different funding phases incorporating 10 large research consortia involving more than 30 research institutions in Germany, numerous companies and several multinational networks. The regional focus of this initiative is East Asia and Southeast-Asia at the forefront of accelerated urban growth. Each project represents transdisciplinary research, aiming for change and lasting impact. Thereby, the German partners closely cooperate together with local research institutions as well as local and national governments. By means of this ambitious initiative, new and fresh ways of planning and spatial interventions to overcome the shortcomings of traditional planning will provide the basis for more evidence-based decision-making for local stakeholders thereby supporting more people-centered urban and regional development.

Programme/Agenda 

Facilitator: M.Sc. K. Dietrich; SURE Facilitation and Synthesis Research Presenting the SURE Programme Initiative by the BMBF (5min) 

Moderator/Discussant: Prof. F. Schwartze; SURE Facilitation and Synthesis Research 

Introducing the four presenters (5min) 

Presenters: Dr. L. Fan; Urban Rural Assembly / Prof. L. Ribbe; PolyUrbanWaters / Dr. A. Blöbaum; Build4People / Prof. S. Greiving for LIRLAP Presenting their projects (20 min) Panel Speakers: Dr. L. Fan; Urban Rural Assembly / Prof. L. Ribbe; PolyUrbanWaters / Dr. A. Blöbaum; Build4People / Prof. S. Greiving for LIRLAP / Dr. M. Waibel; Build4People 

Comparing Hypothesis by the Moderator to open and streamline the panel discussion. (30 min) 

Open discussion: Discussing with the audience (30min)