Saving the planet by desing: Making urbanisation sustainable by creating humane urban space

The New Urban Agenda focuses on sustainable urbanisation as the key to addressing many of the planet's future problems. However, the document does not provide sufficient insights into how this goal can be achieved. Density, for example, is advocated as a solution to save land and energy; but density in itself, however necessary, cannot be the solution, and the proof of this is the dehumanised scale of so many new urban and inner-city developments, particularly in the developing world.

There is a sense that new urban design patterns must be developed in order to reconcile sustainability with the quality of urban life. But these new patterns have not yet affirmed themselves in such a way as to usher in a new urban revolution in planning, design and practice.

The premise of this training event is based on a paradox: in order to plan for a better urban future, it is necessary to look at the past. The training event will look at what was traditionally known as a neighbourhood': a part of the city linked to all other parts of the same city, but also distinct in terms of character, personality, and culture. In these neighbourhoods, residents often get proud to be associated to them. And a current trait was a vibrant street life, which was a testimonial of dynamism and variety on one hand and on the other the best guarantee for security and individual attention to other residents' problems and needs.Regardless of the quality of individual lodgings and housing units, what counted were the urban spaces everyone enjoyed. Urban spaces and public spaces, starting from sidewalks an streets, were the backbone and the living expression of the neighbourhood's culture.

'Saving the Planet by Design' was the title of a keynote address delivered by the proponent of this training event at the global celebration of World Cities Day 2015. This title referred both to the need for a thoughtful commitment to saving the planet from environmental threats and irresponsible human action (design),and at the same time to the opportunity of using intelligent urban design to achieve this goal and at the same time, as suggested in the event's subtitle, reconcile it with the goal of healthy and meaningful urban space for all.

The main task of the course, therefore, will be to extract from 'neighbourhood culture' and its spatial configurations the elements we need to create better and more humane urban living environments for tomorrow, thus fulfilling the aspirations enshrined in the New Urban Agenda.