Denise Pumain: Turning urban systems dynamics into recommendations for the governance of smarter cities

Improving theories and models for the framing of possible urban future has become an emergency in our world.

In the GeoDiverCity project we have analyzed both general processes of urban dynamics and specificities of urban systems in different regions of the world — in, for example, Europe, the United States, and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Our conclusion is that throughout history, urban systems appear as a remarkable complex societal technology that have ensured the adaptation of human habitat to dramatically changing conditions of production, transportation and political and social life since post-Neolithic times. The context of ecological transition offers an opportunity to test a further shift towards “coopetition” including emulation as well as more cooperation. This would be concretizing a further stage in humankind’s territorial intelligence. Text: Denise Pumain

 

Denise Pumain is a professor at the Department of Human Geography, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and director of Cybergeo, European Journal of Geography (www.cybergeo.eu). She is specialized in urban modelling and theoretical geography. Her list of publications is available under this  link

 Veranstaltung in englischer Sprache.