Practitioners from the fields of design, planning and architecture gathered at the United Nations Pavilion yesterday to share ideas on building more sustainable, resourceful, and user-friendly cities. The event chaired by Prof. Ezio Mancini of Politecnico di Milano, Italy was part of a three-day conference taking place in Shanghai.
In his opening address, Mr. Mancini highlighted the need for an interdisciplinary approach to rapidly growing cities. The design community, he noted, can offer creative and enabling ideas to meet emerging challenges but it must always do so by engaging local actors, those who have really the most at stake in the process.
"Shifting our lens and seeing cities as a source of opportunities, rather than problems that require remedial action, is also key to any sustainable initiative," noted Lars Reutersward, Director of the United Nations Pavilion.
Participants later adopted a declaration of principles on design and sustainable urban development.
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