Whats Wrong With This Picture?

Co-creating real urbanisms for the next three billion

JebBrugmann TheWorldBankUrbanWeek March9,2009

photofromKarenSeto

Nicaragua

Ahmedabad

WesternCape

AbuDhabi KualaLumpur

Q:WhatsWrong?
A:Thelackofanelaborateddisciplineofurbanstrategy toputbestpracticeintoscaledpractice.

The essential faculties of the Strategic City

TheStrategic Alliance
Astable,highly committedgroupof political,economicand socialintereststhat shareacommon strategicpurpose.

ThePracticeof Urbanism
Theplanningprocesses, technicalsolutions, designs,andbusiness modelsthattogether shapethewaythecityis built,serviced,andusedto achievethestrategic objective.

These three faculties form a stable regime that transforms urban form, regional markets, and local culture to establish A New Urbanism.

StrategicInstitutions
Adedicatedapparatus, responsivetotheAlliance,for developing,testingand diffusingnewpracticesof urbanism.

Barcelona

Chicago

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Planned Master Planned Adhoc Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification (formal/informal) Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Formal

Bestpractice range

Informal

Accessibility/affordability Productivity Socialcohesion/governability Resourceefficiency Resilience

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Custom Planned Planned Master Adhoc Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification (formal/informal) Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Informal

Formal

Community-based urbanism

Informal

Formal

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Custom Planned Planned Master Adhoc Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification (formal/informal) Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Informal

Formal

Planned (institutional) urbanism

Formal

Informal

What is an urbanism?

Urbanism (rbnizm),noun
1. Thewayoflifeofpeoplewholiveinacity (Websters).
2.Thewaythatacitybuildingcommunity designs,

builds,governs,andcolocatesactivitiestosupport specializedformsofproductionandlivingthatgive themsharedadvantageintheworld.

The bazaar district (Middle East/West Asia)

Leslieville,Toronto

The central business district and university district

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Custom Planned Planned Master Adhoc Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification (formal/informal) Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Informal

Formal

Transforming the Silicon Valley Workplace

Industrial batch production

PostInformal

Formal

Different approaches create different economic compacts

Developer Derivatives (CDO) Trader Subprime Lender

P&L(and BalanceSheet)

Owner
P&L(and BalanceSheet)

Astandardizedunit offungible,basic urbanutility

Municipal
P&L(and BalanceSheet)

Asset stripper (Slumlord)

Consumer
P&L(and BalanceSheet)

Industrial Batch Production of City

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Formal

Adhoc

Custom Planned Planned Master Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Informal

The centre does not hold: subprime lending was part of the iceberg
COSTEQUATION Largerhomes,moreenergyintensive, morefacilities Greaterdistances Moreroad,water&seweragecapacity Largerpercapitaautomobilefleet Higherenergy/fuelcosts Highermobilitycosts Higherinfrastructurecosts Moredispersedandflexiblelabormarkets Morefrequentchangeofemployment Higherhousingturnover/neighborhoodchurn REVENUEEQUATION Lessgovernmentcapitalinvestment LessgovernmentO&Msubsidy Reducedemploymentbenefits Decliningrealincomes NET nevercalculated!

Different approaches create different economic compacts

A
Pursuesurban utility&economic advantage

B
Pursuesurban utility&economic advantage

Acocreatedsystem tailoredtoprovide multipleformsof specializedutility withasharedP&L andBalanceSheet

B
Pursuesurban utility&economic advantage

D
Pursuesurban utility&economic advantage

An Urbanism

The industrial city neighborhood (N. America)

Strategy = Scaling Quality

Planned Urbanism QualityofTotalCity Custom Master Planned

Community Urbanism

Accessibility/affordability Productivity Socialcohesion/governability Resourceefficiency Resilience

Adhoc Past

Planned Industrial

Commodification Today

Quantity of total city (formal) Quantity& speed solutions Planned Industrial QuantityofTotalCity Quality&resilience solutions

Adhoc

Planned Urbanism Community Urbanism

Commodification

Past

Today

Can there be an industrial approach to urbanism?

Industrialscale Urbanism? QualityofTotalCity

QualityofTotalCity

Reverse engineering the process of urbanism

Planned Urbanism QualityofTotalCity

Community Urbanism

Reverseengineering Theprocessofanalyzing theconstructionand operationofaproductin ordertomanufacturea similarone

Planned Industrial

Adhoc Past

Today

Co-creation and user-centered design: the cutting-edge of corporate product strategy

The missing link: organized user communities are required

Solution: new urbanism incubators in every city

studyanddocumentexistinglocalurbanisms

bringusercommunitiestogether,orrespondtotheirexistingdemand managetheinnovationprocessbetweenusers,designers,andthe industry

A new industrial urbanism?: Kronsberg (Hannover) Germany

Business process innovation and project cycle reform are key

Productinnovation
predesignnewurbanismsolutionsthroughreverseengineering projectspecificcocreation

Developmentcontrolprocessreform
managerisksassociatedwithprocesschange managerisksassociatedwithproductinnovation

Businessmodelinnovation
sharerisksassociatedwithprocessandproductinnovation

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Custom Planned Planned Master Adhoc Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification (formal/informal) Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Informal

Formal

Ad Hoc City Building (planned and unplanned)

Informal

Formal

Spectrum of city-building approaches

Custom Planned Planned Master Adhoc Communitybased (institutional) Planned Industrial Commodification (formal/informal) Urbanism Urbanism City Massproduction oftheCity

Informal

Formal

Custom master planned city