Conference

Urban-Rural Assembly:

Co-Visioning Interconnected Regions

The closing conference of the Urban-Rural Assembly project will explore new approaches for addressing the complex interdependencies between urban and rural areas. Organised by Habitat Unit, Chair of International Urbanism and Design, Institute of Architecture, TU Berlin

Image: © Gaoli Xiao

Dates: Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 18:00 and Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 9:30 

Place: Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Christinenstr. 18–19, 10119 Berlin

Introduction

Even in our so-called “Urban Age”, almost half of the world’s population continues to reside in areas defined as rural. These largely productive landscapes span vast portions of the earth’s land mass. However, in urban research and practice, the “countryside” has not yet received the attention it deserves as a provider of food, water, energy, biodiversity, and other resources for the benefit of urban dwellers and the planet as a whole. To address climate change and better safeguard our critical resources, it is essential to approach urban development more holistically, tackling the interrelationships and metabolisms between urban and rural areas. Such an integrative view calls for circular economies, equitable distribution of resources, practices of solidarity, and care for more-than-human species at the urban-rural interface. Moreover, we must develop a territorial approach to spatial planning and design involving multiple and diverse actors through “co-visioning” processes.

The Urban-Rural Assembly project has addressed these critical issues and needs since 2019. A multi-disciplinary, Sino-German research team has studied rapid socio-spatial transformation processes in urban-rural living labs in Zhejiang Province, China, developing strategies and tools for future change.

This closing conference of the Urban-Rural Assembly project will explore new approaches and methodologies for understanding and managing the complex interdependencies and linkages between urban and rural areas. It will present some of the project’s main findings and feature contributions from international experts on territorial planning approaches, best practices from various regions, and policy approaches for just and sustainable urban-rural development.

Programme

Tuesday, 1 October 2024

18:00 – 18:20 Welcome
Dunya Bouchi_Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin
Anke Hagemann_TU Berlin
Zhiqiang Wu_Tongji University Shanghai
Remy Sietchiping_UN-Habitat, Nairobi

18:20 – 19:30 Keynotes
Paola Viganò_EPFL, Lausanne
Nikos Katsikis_TU Delft
Jian Liu_Tsinghua University Beijing

19:30 – 19:50 Presentation of the Urban-Rural Assembly project

20:00 – 20:45 Panel discussion: Urbanism Beyond Cities

Moderation: Cordelia Polinna_Forward Planung und Forschung, Berlin

Discussants:
Paola Vigano_EPFL Lausanne
Nikos Katsikis_TU Delft
Jian Liu_Tsinghua University Beijing
Anke Hagemann_TU Berlin
Sigrun Langner_Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Programme

Wednesday, 2 October 2024

9:30 – 9:45 Welcome
Heike Bauer_DLR Projektträger, Bonn, on behalf of BMBF
Xi Ding_ICLEI East Asia, Beijing

9:45 – 11:15 Roundtable 1: Interconnecting People
Which socio-economic challenges do we face in heterogenous urban-rural regions? How can we create socially inclusive and equitable environments while encouraging participation and ownership in sustainable regional transformation? Who are the “movers and shakers” in such regions?

Moderation:
Sigrun Abels_TU Berlin

Impulse Talks:
Gaoli Xiao_TU Berlin; Huang Huang_Tongji University Shanghai; Ava Lynam_TU Berlin
Nicole Goymann_Qingshan Village, Hangzhou
Kerstin Faber_Federal Bauakademie Foundation, Berlin
Elena Meyer-Clement_University of Copenhagen

Discussants:
Fengqing Li_Shanghai University
Nina Gribat_BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg

11:15 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00 Roundtable 2: Interconnecting Ecosystems
In which ways are natural ecologies and water systems affected by extended urbanization? How can ecosystems and green-blue infrastructure be restored and reconnected in the urban-rural continuum? What role can territorial planning and landscape design approaches play in this endeavor?

Moderation:
Wolfgang Wende_Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR), Dresden

Impulse Talks:
Suili Xiao_Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR), Dresden
Maria Frölich-Kulik and Yulin Zhang_Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Yuting Xie_Zhejiang University
Matthew Gandy_University of Cambridge

Discussants:
tba.

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 – 16:00 Roundtable 3: Interconnecting Resources
What resources will be decisive in a climate-friendly urban future? How can urban-rural resources be harnessed in an equitable and sustainable way? How can resource cycles be reconnected on a regional scale?

Moderation:
Anke Hagemann_TU Berlin

Impulse Talks:
Susanne Rotter_TU Berlin
Phillip Misselwitz_Bauhaus Earth, Berlin
Jian Liu_Tsinghua University Beijing
Marcel Hardrath_District of Nordhausen

Discussants:
Nikos Katsikis_TU Delft
Hannes Langguth_HafenCity University Hamburg

16:00 – 16:15 Coffee break

16:15 – 17:45 Final Panel: Co-visioning Interconnected Regions
How can we address relevant fields of sustainable transition in a strategic planning approach? What is the role of scientific research? What means and tools can be used to effectively engage a multitude of actors in co-visioning a sustainable regional future? How can the co-visioning approach be strengthened to achieve a greater impact on regional development and evolve as a relevant instrument for urban-rural governance from a global perspective?

Moderation:
Sigrun Langner_Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Impulse Talks:
Cordelia Polinna_Forward Planung und Forschung, Berlin
Remy Sietchiping_UN-Habitat, Nairobi
Lukas Pappert_TU Berlin; Maria Frölich-Kulik_Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Discussants:
Marcel Hardrath_District Nordhausen
Alice Schröder_Umweltbundesamt, Dessau

17:45 End of conference