How does a city develop into a global destination? Is a city more than a collection of great
buildings? Is a city more than a
collection of great people? What makes a
city great? What are the forces that
drive urban development?
There are many sites that provide tourism related
information about cities. While we want
to understand what makes a city great, we are also interested in the messy gray
area, where decisions are made about the future of a city. What drives such decision-making? Is that purely a speculative gamble or are
there hidden forces at work? What roles
do design professionals play in such decision-making? What role does leadership play? Where does such leadership come from? What role does local government play?
We will focus on four broad categories of urban interventions:
Tourism development:
Urban interventions intended to
spur or support tourism.
Hotels, convention centers, museums, art galleries, public arts
festivals, fashion shows, business shows, public expositions, public events.
Ecotourism, sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, leisure, recreation, urban
tourism, parks, sports stadiums, arenas, public plazas,
Smart infrastructure:
Urban interventions intended to
spur or support smart urbanization technologies.
Smart grid, smart design, smart transit, smart buildings, renewable
energy, sustainable architecture, green building, smart architecture, smart meters,
smart traffic signaling, mass transit, smart city, smart infrastructure,
augmented reality, urban data networks, collaborative networks, digital city.
Economic development:
Urban interventions intended to
spur or support economic development.
Business incubators, start-ups, universities, research centers,
innovation labs, demonstration projects, affordable housing, transit hubs, rezoning,
urban renewal, environmental remediation, brown fields, urban design, new
construction, renovation, mass transit systems, manufacturing, warehousing,
freight delivery, transportation, logistics, urban upgrading, finance, law,
regulations, institutions, leadership.
Branding and global identity:
Urban interventions intended to
create a unique brand.
Global influence, city image, uniqueness, branding, identity, signature
buildings, global events, public expositions, leadership, historic
preservation, tourist attractions, urban design, celebrations.
Miscellaneous Key words:
General information, summary, statistics, comparative study, geography,
emergency preparedness, disaster mitigation, low income housing, urbanization,
slum upgrading, geography, climate, culture, people, demographics, history.
Photo Credit: trcheng(Taiwanese) under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
