Fast.Forward.City: Lessons from Latin America’s Urban Growth

Latin America and the Caribbean are rapidly urbanizing. At least 80% of their population already live in cities. Urban sprawl and gentrification processes have led to rapid spatial growth at the urban peripheries and to a hollowing-out of the central areas. Additionally, exclusionary planning activities and rising costs of urban mobility cause problems that we will have to address in the future. However, in the last decade an increasing number of Latin American cities have developed innovative strategies to lead and manage their urban growth processes successfully and gained international appreciation for their work.
Recently, Vienna has also experienced a rapid urbanization process. Currently, 30.000 new residents settle down in Vienna every year; this will lead to an expected 200.000 new residents within 15 years.

The symposium Fast.Forward.City will discuss creative solutions to current and future urban challenges caused by rapid urban growth. The objective of this event is a fruitful exchange of experiences, lessons-learned (“know-how”) and academic research (“know-why”) in the context of rapid urban growth and urbanization in Latin America and the Caribbean. Urban practitioners, designers, and researchers from several disciplines will discuss strategies, specific tool-kits, and design-based solutions to deal with the ongoing urbanization processes in Latin America, the Caribbean, Austria, and other parts of the world.

The lectures will cover recent experiences with four topics:
a) affordable urban mobility, including walkable cities and innovative mobility systems,
b) enrichment of cities through social housing,
c) “city making” using a multisectoral approach to urban planning and development,
and d) innovative urban planning techniques and urban management.
The program will be completed by a round table discussion that focuses on the challenges related to a successful implementation of innovative urban development projects, given existing political and structural realities.  

www.fastforwardcity.at