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The city has historically been conceived as a project, with a sense of duty to be: it is the prefiguration of a reality that emerges from the negation of the pre-existing city. The city anticipates a desired future from an ideal perspective that tends to overcome the existing structural or particular challenges of the present. It can be argued that this proposition represents the historical trajectory of urban thought on a planetary scale. Therefore, the prospective dimension of the city constituted a central dynamic in urban theory throughout history, leading to the emergence of planning as a key approach.
The history of the city as a project is the core of the first volume in this two-part contribution. It presents an overview of diverse city projects that have been pursued throughout history, providing a framework for exploring new perspectives of urban development. The cities profiled and analyzed here reflect a living catalog of initiatives that can inform promising directions. More than a compilation, this volume compares and critically assesses these historical projects to provide a grounding for the contemporary advances presented in the second volume.
About the author
Fernando Carrión Mena is a Research Professor at the Interuniversity Alliance URBS.TIC. His focus of study are the topics of: housing, urbanization process, city, historical centers, cultural heritage, violence, security and drug trafficking, borders, decentralization and sociology of soccer, among others. He created 8 thematic magazines (political science, security, city, historical centers, borders), wrote more than 1000 journalistic articles and 306 academic articles, published 74 books (editor of 52 and author of 22) and edited 12 book collections (97 volumes). He produced 4 film documentaries. He has worked as a consultant for multilateral organizations and as a university professor. For his career he received 9 awards, 6 decorations and 5 distinctions of honored citizen.
Sebastián Rodríguez Alvarez is a Researcher at the Interuniversity Alliance URBS.TIC. Master in Urban Studies with specialization in Geography and Territorial Processes from FLACSO Ecuador and Geographer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Consultant in diverse projects of land use planning, environmental management and urban mobility at local and national levels. His academic experience is related to the development of research projects on urban ecology and modeling of territorial processes. His research interests include geographic information science, data science, quality of urban life, socio-spatial segregation and urban violence.
Summary
The city has historically been conceived as a project, with a sense of duty to be: it is the prefiguration of a reality that emerges from the negation of the pre-existing city. The city anticipates a desired future from an ideal perspective that tends to overcome the existing structural or particular challenges of the present. It can be argued that this proposition represents the historical trajectory of urban thought on a planetary scale. Therefore, the prospective dimension of the city constituted a central dynamic in urban theory throughout history, leading to the emergence of planning as a key approach.
The history of the city as a project is the core of the first volume in this two-part contribution. It presents an overview of diverse city projects that have been pursued throughout history, providing a framework for exploring new perspectives of urban development. The cities profiled and analyzed here reflect a living catalog of initiatives that can inform promising directions. More than a compilation, this volume compares and critically assesses these historical projects to provide a grounding for the contemporary advances presented in the second volume.
