The City: Architecture - Urban Development - Mobility | The Plan
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The City: Architecture - Urban Development - Mobility

The City: Architecture - Urban Development - Mobility
By Nicola Leonardi -

The city, its confines and features are difficult to define with certainty today, the definition changing depending on what we mean by the terms ‘city or metropolitan area’. Wikipedia defines the city as an urban centre coming under a single administrative authority. An urban area, on the other hand, is a wider stretch that spills over into other administrative districts. An urban area whose outer urban belt makes up one continuous urban expanse and whose economy pivots around a central urban nucleus is loosely called a metropolitan area. A metropolitan area with more than 10 million inhabitants is called a mega-city. A chain of metropolitan areas makes up a megalopolis, but at this scale we also talk of geographical regions.

In this kind of urban setting, mobility, architecture and sustainability all come together, components of the wider, more complex discourse. At the centre, however, is always concern for society, in other words, man and the extent to which his decisions regarding the future are sustainable.

Another question is key: the new direction taken by the automotive industry’s R&D effort that is set to change the urban scenario in coming years and one of the most important players of our Economy. Like architecture, car manufacturers have bought into the pressing issue of sustainability and energy efficiency. Scenarios we once thought belonged to a distant future today seem much closer.

We have interviewed a series of key people in their respective fields of urban planning, architecture or mobility, to get their views on these issues and understand whether and how these sectors can dialogue. 

Nicola Leonardi

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