DOC, IOD, TOC, TOD, etc..

 

During the last few years, urban labs were very active across the globe, in search for the optimum solution for the urban sprawl and changes.. The demographic growth is imbalanced across most cities, while the grassroots of food supply are in jeopardy in few parts due to rural urban migrations. Yes, the monetary cycles and the unmerciful practice of investment had fed the media with manipulated messages on definition of urbanity and the citizenship as well..

Historically; Urbanity had been driven by (DOC)s; which are Defense Oriented Communities; where as security and solidarity were formalized in walled towns and provided or surrounding a Fort or a Citadel.. Not only to fortify against invaders, but also increase the social coherence among citizens.. It had been the key element to form government and administration that we know today..

Introducing the Infrastructure Oriented Development (IOD) was an urban and civil breakthrough; whereas Infrastructure became the label of decent living. It is confident to state that sprawl of urban settlements were driven by Infrastructure; which became the key goal and measure for the City Managers. This is where most of the city budgets are spend; allowing for cities to compete on excellence of living and styles.

Ironically, both regulated and slams neighborhoods share few of the key utilities, which make slums and non-regulated settlements a continuous urban pain. Utilities' providers gain a lot from connections and serving the inhabitants; regardless of their tenure status..

 

Vehicle Oriented Developments (VOD) are the curse of 20th century; that already stigmatizing our urban world; which also had disconnected and disfigured the cities. This phenomenon has lots of economic, political and administrative aspects, with mighty lobbies that superseded urbanists' rejection; if any.. Private Vehicles are synonymous to wealth and wellbeing that hard to change at the near future..

City Managers had used pedestrian bridges and underpasses to ease the connectivity across the hazardous roads, yet not welcomed by inhabitants. So far, no alternate or innovative ideas is seriously considered, while fatality rates are increased due to car accidents..

When Melbourne-2018 had brought to practice the 800 meters, or the famous 20 minutes City formula, it was labeled to "Live Locally"; where all citizen are given the ability to meet most of their daily needs within a 20-minute walk from home, with safe cycling and local transport options.

Certainly, work places are hardly to be included within that radius, but encouraging the younger generations for more start-ups and remote jobs. Such a vision will reduce the city transportation demand, and allow for self-sustained communities to grow..

The 20-minutes neighborhoods are the spearheads for transformation of the city; to restructure their communities into (TOC); Transit Oriented Communities. These TOC will reduce the inter-city transit demand; allowing for better environment and social coherence in a fast moving or transit world..

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced earlier this year the challenging and innovative concept that would make the capital a fifteen-minute city, “la Ville des proximités”. 

This 2021 idea is to create neighborhoods where every essential residents’ needs are easily within reach in 15 minutes by bike or walking. Simultaneously, the pandemic and COVID-19 crisis have completely transformed citizens’ lifestyles and our current context may increase the urgency of establishing this model. 

• Is it now the best moment to invest in the restructuring of a city like Paris? 
• Is the 15-minute city a key concept for the resilience of the capital? 
• Will this green urban planning avoid economic disaster and help sustainability and development? 

Throughout this session, we’ll be addressing these issues with Anne Hidalgo and Carlos Moreno, the French academic and Sorbonne professor who came up with this revolutionary fifteen-minute concept.

This Paris experiment is important as it addresses the existing community and built environment; which includes several transformation of legislations and standards to implement and mange the problematic change.

Despite how it is another application of  (TOC); Transit Oriented Communities; yet it is well observed by world City Managers for challenges, resilience, advocacy and lessons learned..

Big Data, Block Chains, IoT and others are the new brands for the urban world. Smart City (SC) is the growing domain for implementing the digitization and artificial intelligence into the cities.

A smart city uses information and communication technology (ICT) to improve operational efficiency, share information with the public and provide a better quality of government service and citizen welfare.

The main goal of a smart city is to optimise city functions and promote economic growth while also improving the quality of life for citizens by using smart technologies and data analysis. The value lies in how this technology is used rather than simply how much technology is available.

There are a number of definitions of what makes a city ‘smart,’ for example, IBM defines a smart city as “one that makes optimal use of all the interconnected information available today to better understand and control its operations and optimize the use of limited resources.”

However, in short, a smart city uses a framework of information and communication technologies to create, deploy and promote development practices to address urban challenges and create a joined-up technologically-enabled and sustainable infrastructure.

Finally, we can talk about the new urban trend that followed the Covid-19 pandemic; which implications are not yet confirmed, while the world is struggling to bring an end for the hardship it had brought to the cities in particular. There is no title for this phenomenon yet; but I shall call it: the Health Oriented City (HOC)..

The New Norm had been generated from the precautionary measures and medical investigations on how life threating viruses can be contained, controlled and managed. The contagious nature had been grown by dense inhabitations, crowded transportation and unhealthy work places..

Certainly there will be lots of changes, standards and codes on how the urban settlement should be prepared, resilient and immunized against such deadly circumstances; socially, economically and physically; for both individuals and communities..