Kategorie: Guest Blog
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The 20 minute neighbourhood: trap or opportunity?
The idea of a 20-minute neighbourhood has been grasped by urban planners and designers internationally. Guest blogger Emeritus Professor Klaus Kunzmann casts a critical eye on the concept. Recently, the 15-minute city concept has found enthusiastic supporters among planners in Europe and beyond. In Scotland’s Draft National Planning Framework 4 it is slightly adapted to be the…
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Participative Planning post-Covid: Lessons from Scotland’s charettes
Dr.Michael Kordas provides insights into the use of charettes for participation in planning – before and after Covid 19. Dr. Michael Kordas provides this guest blog that raises important questions about how the changes forced by the Covid 19 pandemic might impact on participatory methods like charettes. My doctoral research investigated the impact of the…
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City Planning and the Public Health Crisis in Palestine
City planning in the Palestinian-controlled areas has yielded poor results when it comes to unexpected challenges, including the recent outbreak of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, says local expert Dr. Ahmad El-Atrash. In this Guest Blog, Dr. Ahmad El-Atrash (pictured above) from the UN-Habitat office in Ramallah, reflects on the situation in Palestine. Palestinian cities and communities…
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Heimatplanung (Homeland planning)
As European countries become more inward-looking, Professor Klaus Kunzmann sees a possible opportunity for planners to rebuild the reputation of their profession. While spatial planning in Germany is gradually losing its former significance and influence, a new approach to planning is rising in the country: Heimatplanung (homeland planning). Following the last elections, the former Bavarian Prime Minister,…
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The Changchun City Planning Museum: A Showpiece of Urban Planning and Branding
Guest blogger Klaus Kunzmann explores a mueum devoted to the history of urban planning in a Chinese city. Klaus Kunzmann reports from China Urban planning enjoys high esteem among policy makers in China. This is perfectly demonstrated by an impressive new museum in the old industrial Northeast of China. Changchun, the 5 or so million…
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New housing and regeneration practices for difficult times
Guest blogger, the distinguished Hungarian researcher and consultant, Iván Tosics, reflects on radical alternatives to address today’s urban challenges. This Guest Blog is contributed by Iván Tosics, an internationally renowned housing and planning expert. The photo above shows new housing for refugees in Freiburg, Germany. I have the feeling that our normal life is melting down. Leandro Erlich,…
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What does the election of Trump mean for planning and the profession?
Guest blogger Klaus Kunzmann shares his thoughts from Potsdam on what a Trump presidency could mean for planning and planners. First Brexit, then Trump. The liberal elites in Europe and beyond are shocked. In a brief statement in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine on 10 November Saskia Sassen has expressed her concerns that a politically incorrect and…
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Nexit? Netherlands exit – and an unconsidered worst case-scenario
How might Brexit impact on the EU? Will the Netherlands be next? David Evers scratches the scabs. This Guest Blog is contributed by David Evers from the Netherlands Environmental Protection Agency. The views expressed are his own, and not those of the Agency or of ESPON, for which he is the Dutch National Contact Point.…
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Dark Age Ahead – Europe and the EU 2030
In 2004, David Evers, Ed Dammers and Aldert de Vries wrote a „doomsday scenario“ for a disintegrating EU in 2030. It was never published. It is now. David Evers, Ed Dammers and Aldert de Vries wrote this dystopian scenario in 2004 as part of their work in a spatial scenarios project exploring futures for Cohesion Policy. It…
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BREXIT – A blow to the European planning community
Klaus Kunzmann, distinguished professor of spatial planning at the Technical University of Dortmund, give his reaction to Brexit and ponders what it means for planning and planners. England (though not Scotland) has voted for Brexit. It will take months until those who voted against Europe will realize that they have made a tremendous mistake. They…