Topics
The focus during the International Sympsoium is concentrated around a set of themes or topics:
- Agricultural changes and dilemmas posed by simultaneous economic internationalization and new European regulations (CAP)
- Environmental concerns and the quest for sustainability
- Cultural values and their role in the development of metropolitan open areas
- Planning concepts and strategies of dealing with open areas in polycentric urban regions: from being around to being in-between
- Financing and coordination: scale of government, public participation and financial instruments at hand.
Regions
The plans focussed on are the metropolitan areas of:
- Ruhrgebiet (Emscher Landschaftspark)
- Milano (Parco Sud)
- Barcelona (Llobregat Park)
- Greater London (East London Green Grid)
Actors
The speakers were invited based on the role they played in the planning process and are grouped in the following profiles:
- Designer of plan
- Person in charge of implementation and financing
- Project leader, in charge of coordination
- Representative of NGO's articulating citizens' participation
- Expert on heritage and cultural values issues
- Politician (municipal, metropolitan/provincial, regional/federal)
The symposium took place against the backdrop of the 3rd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (www.biennalerotterdam.nl/ ) and their exhibition on the ‘New Dutch City'. Additionally the symposium is linked to the drafting of a new Green Strategy for 2013 onwards by the recently elected provincial government.
