On the 27th of September INTI organised the conference New Towns New Territories. New Players in Urban Development. The conference explored the latest innovations in global urbanization, privatization and new organizational models of urban development as well as the impact and challenges for professional practice. The growing privatization has led to the development of many new New Towns by private companies. While in the post-war period the public authorities were the principal developers, nowadays we see private parties taking over.
The conference brought together a varied crowd: speakers included representatives of multinational companies, such as Cisco, Landprop/InterIkea, MAB, MVRDV, HOK, Accenture, RoyalHaskoning DHV and Landor Associates.
Four case studies - New Songdo (Korea), Strand East (UK), PlanIT Valley (Portugal) and Lavasa (India) – functioned as a starting point for the discussion, focusing on the characteristiscs, advantages and challenges of each organizational model; asking how we might apply these market-based models in other parts of the world and suggesting how to enhance the quality of life in new urban environments.
See also the review (in Dutch) on Archined.
