Smart Urban Places, Low-tech Projects & Cities in Transition

At the forefront of the “engineered” city and the “agile” city, developers are key players in shaping urban spaces in the Mediterranean, and are at the core of the processes transforming project conception and implementation.

What new project management processes – including partnerships, coproduction and negotiation - are necessary to build sustainable and attractive Mediterranean cities? In view of the current challenges imposed by energy and climate transition, can the sustainable Mediterranean cities be low-tech? What roles do experimentation and place-making play in the design and implementation of large-scale urban projects and how do they contribute to creating attractive, democratic and dynamic public and civic spaces?

In a fast-changing world, the Network of Mediterranean Sustainable Urban Developers seeks to challenge public and private developers to adopt innovative and experimental approaches, and to reinvent the conduct of their work as a response to the challenges they face.

This year’s Conference seeks to identify the approaches and tools that enhance collaborative city planning and to build synergies between public, private and civil society actors during all stages of project design and implementation. Eco-urbanism tactics and instruments that create energy-efficient and resilient Mediterranean cities, and enhance environmental and ecological transition in the region will also be addressed during the Conference.

Opening Session: Coproducing the Mediterranean Sustainable Cities

Today, Mediterranean cities are produced by a myriad of actors. Under which conditions can developers guide the coproduction of urban projects? How can they become key actors in the interplay of stakeholders, while implementing projects that respond to the general interest and promote equity, as much as they are attractive and competitive? Which tools are at their disposal to negotiate the framework of sustainable city-making and to guarantee the quality of their urban projects on the long term?

Workshop 1: Tactical Urbanism: Experimentations and New Collaborations

Urban projects increasingly place the end user at the core of the urban planning process. Sustainable cities are produced according to innovative project designs – more collaborative, simple and on a smaller scale, as well as grounded on experimentation and innovation as means to better respond to the needs of local actors and users. The capacities of urban developers to support the emergence of these projects and to encourage stakeholders – inhabitants, users, companies, cultural actors, public entities -  in the design of innovative, sustainable and inclusive dynamics are at stake.

The workshop will explore concrete ways in which urban developers can enhance temporary and permanent place-making, multi-stakeholder partnerships and small-scale urban interventions to the benefit of their urban projects. 

Workshop 2: Urban Ecology in the Mediterranean: Low-tech Initiatives and Urban Resilience

Circular economy, qualities and constructive expertise, bioclimatic design… Which “soft” and “low-tech” solutions are available to urban planners and developers to build sustainable cities?

The imperative for sustainable development and climate change mitigation calls for Mediterranean planners to integrate new technical and technological solutions to their urban projects. However, the quality and sustainability of Mediterranean urban projects equally calls for a renewed consideration of the context in which urban projects are implemented.  A wide variety of approaches and tools enable the adaptation of the design process to the local context, needs and purposes with the aim to enhance environmental and ecological transition in the Mediterranean region.