In the post-war years, the Metabolists made big plans for Tokyo Bay to relieve the pressure on the Japanese capital. Now there's another plan, called Next Tokyo 2045. Herbert Wright explains that these have not been the only visionary proposals. In reality, the city has been gradually encroaching on the Bay for centuries, and the big plans that materialise are mainly infrastructure.
In discussing the scope and meaning of historic preservation, Gabrielle M. Peterson reminds us of how it can help solve multi-dimensional urban plight.
By describing the important role of Shebeens in the informal settlements of Cape Town, Bronwyn Kotzen challenges our binary conception of the formal and informal city.
While national and state tourism schemes will benefit limited destinations of utmost importance for India, small towns like Omkareshwar will have to look at alternative possibilities to alleviate infrastructure deficits.
While working within Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, Anne Hofhuis reports on the challenges the NGO sector faces as it tries to counter the destructive impacts of Israeli planning policies in the city.
A well-planned response to the unprecedented expansion of cities may hold the key to responding to climate change and other challenges of the 21st century.
Reviewing UN-Habitat’s World Urban Forum held in MedellĂn last week, Laura Cesafsky hears two camps talking past each other on the lack of scientific knowledge underpinning the New Urban Agenda.
Bronwyn Kotzen is a qualified architect, and urban researcher at the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), a Wits University affiliate.
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
