AGS Urban Futures Reports

Urban areas around the world are vital centers of culture, leadership, and opportunity. Although rapid urban development often leads to severe environmental and social problems, it could prove to be an outstanding opportunity to achieve greater sustainability. Accomplishing this will require breakthroughs in technology, planning and the governance of cities. The AGS engaged researchers from its partner universities in an integrative exploration of Urban Futures.


Report of the AGS Annual Meeting 2009: Urban Futures: the Challenge of Sustainability

The AGS meeting offered a forum for all those concerned about our urban future, from academia, industry and public administration, in the spirit of the quote by Klaus Toepfer ‘The battle for sustainable development will be won or lost in the urban environment’. Key messages from the meeting are highlighted in this report. The report also includes summaries of the presentations and discussions on energy governance, urban ecology, architecture for the open city, size, shape and sustainability of cities, options for pro-poor urban development, transforming the building stock for sustainability, and whether more mobility increases happiness.


Report of the AGS at Todai First Urban Futures International Workshop, February 2009:
1^st International Workshops on Sustainable City Regions 2009

Under the AGS, the University of Tokyo is focusing on the Asian city-region and playing a leading role in developing a new concept for sustainable city regions for Asia, through a new approach to the integration of urban and rural areas in which increased urban-rural interactions are expected to contribute to establishing sustainable urban communities in Asia. These proceedings describe Asian research on urban-rural systems, city regional forms, water management, and culture and settlements.


Report of the AGS at ETH Urban Futures seminar, November 2008:
Understanding the Dimensions of Urban Futures Research – tackling complex reality

This seminar illustrated the dimensions of research that tackles the complex reality of urban futures, and aimed to achieve a better understanding of how interdisciplinary research must be designed and carried out. The report illustrates new approaches to understanding the complexity of cities. It describes three in-depth case studies from research carried out in the ETH domain, and reports the results of the AGS workshop Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Urban Futures.