ABSTRACT

What is certain is that in the future we cannot continue to expand cities the way we have in the past. An unprecedented effort is required to accommodate the urban population of 2050 in a consistently livable way. It requires uncommon political courage and financial wizardry — hundreds of billions of euros will be spent in investments worldwide, and the way these will be spent can make the difference between a sustainable perspective and a catastrophe. It also requires new ideas, new knowledge, new models, new technologies, new forms of organization and ways of working, and a new urban policy. The world urgently needs a plan for its urban future.