5TH URBAN SPACE AND SOCIAL LIFE: THEORY AND PRACTICE

City Development in its Natural and Built Environment

Location: Athianis (previously a silk factory) in Gazi, Athens, Greece

June 16-18, 2014

The 4C5M Studio’s 5th Urban Space and Social Life conference invites papers that explore challenging issues under the theme of City Development in Its Natural and Built Environment. City development’s challenge lies in how we sustain the quality of our living while balancing the demands of the natural and built environment. Often times, our city development creates undisputable “gridlocks” for ourselves. Challenges include but not limited to traffic, revitalization of old centers, balance use of spaces that intersect with natural forces such as natural disasters, geographic limitations (mountains, waters, and weather), and the return of wildlife. Our everyday living, culture, identity are shaped and impacted by the convolution of the natural and built environment. The conference invites the participants’ imagination and creativity to explore, understand, and solve some of the issues.
The scope of the 4C5M Studio and our conferences ranges from the study of a single built form, to a village, a community, a city, and a nation. They are constantly impacted by multifaceted forces from rural and urban to global developments. The 4 “C”s stand for Crisis, Cause, Consequence and Cure (framework for analysis) and the 5 “M”s stand for Methodology, Medium, Multiculturality, Making and Manifestation (framework for executing projects or solutions).

The conference expresses a broad interest in, but is not limited to, the following themes:

• Natural and built environment as transformative forces for culture, lifestyle, collective and place identity, living conditions and opportunities

  • as push and pull factors for immigrants and migrant workers

  • as resources for tourism

  • city branding with natural and built environment

  • coastal and inland city development

• (Re)developing old cities in their natural and built environment, not limited to, but particularly historic urban landscape in China and Greece

• The challenges in balancing between green and concrete, glass, and steel

• Climate change on cities

  • The altered nature: air and water flow, heat and returning wildlife in the built environment

  • City redevelopment and natural disasters

• The issues in extracting natural resources(usually in the hinterland to sustain city development)

  • waters, minerals, wind, oil, gas, agriculture, livestock

• Proposed solutions

  • Choices: planning, architectural design, alternative energy, policies, education, reintroducing nature back to built environment