Urbanism
Environment
Design

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Masterplanning, Scalability and Complexity

URBED Principal, David Rudlin, will be speaking at this Academy of Urbanism event on Tuesday 3rd September in Dundee. David will be talking about some of the themes in his new book with Shruti Hemani - Climax City: Masterplanning and the Complexity of Urban Growth. 

It's argued that modern planners are fighting a losing battle to impose order on complex systems because they fail to understand what it is they are dealing with. Cities can be planned but only if we work with, rather than against, the complex systems of urban growth. This is something that was well understood in the past but was lost in the post-war planning reforms.

Human settlements are a mix of self-organisation and planning. There is a great deal of academic work seeking to apply complexity theory to cities, but little about how this interacts with the process of planning. If emergent structures are the result of the interplay of relatively simple rules and forces over time, what role does planning have in shaping those rules? From the medieval hill town to the mature cities of Europe the megacities of Asia: the struggle between the planned and the unplanned is universal.

This timely event will include two presentations by leading international experts focusing on the impact and imprint of cumulative change on the physical and social urban fabric.

Programme

16:00: Registration and Networking

16:30: Welcoming + Masterplanning: Why Bother? - Husam Al Waer

16:45: Climax City: Masterplanning and the Complexity of Urban Growth - David Rudlin

17:30: Making Massive Small Change: Ideas, tools and tactics to build the urban society we all want - Kelvin Campbell

18:15: Q&A- Chaired by Diarmaid Lawlor

18:45: Drink Reception