Daniel Kemmis |
NEW PUBLICATIONS 4 Documentation Sets: #48 Health & the |
AWARD WINNER FOR MIXED-USE DESIGN at the 45th IMCL Conference, Portland, OR, June 2007: Livermore
Village, California,
To view additional mixed-use projects that received Commendations please click here. |
******* This book will be a milestone for understanding the European square. Dr. Sven von Ungern-Sternberg ******* Genius of the European Square will
be invaluable in university schools of town planning and architecture,
in offices of architects and town planners, and also in the houses of
people who appreciate the creations of human skill and social wisdom.
Everybody will appreciate and learn from the European squares so clearly
explained, and gracefully presented and illustrated. |
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In 1985, when these conferences began there was no discussion at other planning or architectural conferences, or even at the League of Cities Conferences about making our cities more "livable". Only the IMCL Conferences focused attention on the need for public transit, bicycle lanes, and traffic calmed streets, for human scale architecture and mixed use urban fabric, for reviving the city center and creating public places where people could gather for farmers markets, festivals, outdoor cafes and community social life.
By bringing together people of vision from all disciplines at the past 45 IMCL Conferences, by presenting the best examples from Europe and North America, and by honoring cities and civic leaders for their achievements we rejoice in the fact that these are now common goals for cities all across North America and Australia, as well as in Europe.
IMCL goals for the next 20 years:
These issues (which now seem as daunting as traffic calming seemed twenty years ago) must be resolved in the next twenty years if we are to rediscover the principles of true urbanism, rebuild our cities so that they are ecologically sustainable, and regain communities that are socially sustainable.
Join us at the 2008 IMCL Conferences to raise awareness of the goals that still lie ahead!
The purpose of the Making Cities Livable movement is to enhance the well-being of inhabitants of cities and towns, strengthen community, improve social and physical health, and increase civic engagement by reshaping the built environment of our cities, suburbs and towns.
To achieve these goals requires, first and foremost, a well-functioning public realm - meetings, encounters, dialogue among people young and old with a diversity of backgrounds, acquaintances, friends and strangers - that exists in multi-functional public places, squares and marketplaces.
To be vibrant these public places must exist within a truly urban fabric, and for this reason the Making Cities Livable movement promotes True Urbanism, - the time-tested principles of appropriate human scale architecture, mixed use shop/houses, and a compact urban fabric of blocks, streets and squares. outdoor cafes and restaurants, farmers' markets and community festivals also enliven the public realm.
The principles of True Urbanism create a "city of short distances" where balanced transportation planning makes possible commuting via pedestrian networks, bicycle networks, traffic quietened streets and public transportation.
Regional planning for controlled growth, focused economic development and an integrated transportation system, is an essential element of True Urbanism.
True Urbanism respects each city's unique identity, its "DNA" and considers the city as a work of art. The city's identity is further expressed through its public art.
The principles of True Urbanism generate cities that are both ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE (by reducing energy consumption, emphasizing infill and reconstruction rather than greenfield development), and SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE, by promoting the individual's social, mental and physical WELL-BEING and the community's cultural, economic and social well-being.
A measure of the city's livability is how good it is for children and youth. If a city lacks livability they are the first to suffer. A city built on True Urbanist principles provides the ideal environment for the physical, mental and social development of children and youth.
These issues are discussed by world renowned experts at the IMCL Conferences that take place twice a year, once in the US and once in Europe, and published in the IMCL Publications.
Among the IMCL Board Members are internationally known urban leaders such as Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. of Charleston, Mayor Robert Morrow of Hamilton, Canada, Mayor Sylvia Sutherland of Peterborough, Canada, Governor Sven von Ungern-Sternberg of Freiburg, Germany and Dean Edoardo Salzano of Venice, Italy.
There
is no topic more crucial to the well-being of our cities and of our
democracy, and no one more qualified to give it the thoughtful attention
it deserves.
