Overview

Half of the earths’ inhabitants live in cities, and urbanisation is only increasing. The quality of our future, the quality of urban life and the functioning of the city thus depends on the quality with which we shape our cities, restructuring and transforming toward a sustainable city. Our challenge is to keep our cities and our planet liveable, safe, healthy and attractive throughout this century. Due to climate change, increasing urbanisation and the depletion of fossil fuels, cities will need to undergo a more or less gradual transition from being primarily consumers of food toward producing their own. One attractive and efficient way to guide this necessary transformation is by developing green-blue urban grids which will mitigate the effects of climate change and the energy and food shortages in urban areas. Our cities need to become more resilient to be able to tackle these challenges, as a lack of resilience will not only lead to a deficiency in technical infrastructural functioning but will also have consequences for a city’s social and economic well-being. Furthermore, green-blue urban planning can offer more room for the development of biodiversity and a healthier, more attractive living environment.