Description
The Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at Helsinki University of Technology invites planning scholars and professionals to come to Finland and to discuss the manifold issues of ‘space is luxury’ - and to explore the multitude of related planning issues.
In 2010, the world is clearly one that can be called ‘urban’. In relative terms, more than half of the world’s population dwells in urban settings – about one billion under ‘slum conditions’.
Having quality space available equals commanding a ‘luxury’!
Planning and urban design are key factors in shaping and managing space and generate the wished for quality spaces. The concept of space and concomitantly that of spatial quality includes different meanings and dimensions. Space is physical, including architecture and urban form. Space is also socially constructed through various forms of human interventions. Space is contested and a reason for serious conflicts. Space is presented and space represents. For planning, the management of the competing uses for space requires complex interventions. The making of better places that are valued and have identity is an enduring ambition of planning. And, returning to the start of this brief reflection, the major challenge of spatial planning is to find solutions for a more sustainable urban millennium. Space is expensive and exhaustive, a luxury we cannot afford any longer, if it means excessive use of space in terms of energy inefficiency and traffic pollution.
