the urban century challenge: livable cities
In 2025, over two-thirds of humanity will live in cities.
The livability of cities will increasingly determine
the future of humanity and the planet.
The CityLab Seminars provide a forum for academic, business, and community stakeholders to tackle the complex challenge of urbanization and its impact for people and the planet. Through dynamic conversations about the livability of cities, seminar participants share knowledge, expertise, and innovative strategies from cities around the world while building collaborative partnerships and projects to reinvent distressed, undervalued neighborhoods in their own cities.
The livability of cities will increasingly determine
the future of humanity and the planet.
The CityLab Seminars provide a forum for academic, business, and community stakeholders to tackle the complex challenge of urbanization and its impact for people and the planet. Through dynamic conversations about the livability of cities, seminar participants share knowledge, expertise, and innovative strategies from cities around the world while building collaborative partnerships and projects to reinvent distressed, undervalued neighborhoods in their own cities.
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Cities are the vital heart of human culture and commerce, producing most of the world’s wealth of ideas, technology, innovation. But most of humanity lives in urban areas threatened by congestion, poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation that impede their ability to flourish and realize the full value of their potential.
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Will the Urban Century usher in a new era of inclusive wealth for human flourishing,
or a downward spiral of human inequality, deprivation, and despair?
or a downward spiral of human inequality, deprivation, and despair?
strategies for livable cities
A livable city enables people in the present generation to meet their needs and
develop their capabilities without compromising the capabilities of future generations.
CityLab is anchored in five key strategies for building livable cities.
develop their capabilities without compromising the capabilities of future generations.
CityLab is anchored in five key strategies for building livable cities.
Place: Foster healthy habitat
- Stewardship of nature and the natural ecosystem in and around the built environment
- Attractive, safe, walkable streetscapes, public spaces, and multi-use destination venues
- Buildings that blend with the natural environment to enhance historic roots, local culture, and social infrastructure
- Smart infrastructure design and execution that harmonizes with natural habitat and human activity
- Safe, attractive, affordable homes for diverse homeowners, renters, ages, incomes, and lifestyles
- High quality, accessible, affordable health and wellness care
- Nourishing, affordable, abundant, and accessible food
- High quality, enriching, affordable childcare, family support systems, and developmentally-appropriate education for a lifelong love of learning
- Healthy growth opportunities for people of diverse ages, traditions, incomes, and lifestyles
- Inclusive social infrastructure of accessible, welcoming places and spaces for informal communication, interaction, and neighborliness
- Inclusive collaborative practices for sharing ideas, values, goals, and concerns
- Branding/bonding events, places, and spaces that celebrate community identity, values, traditions, milestones, and connections to place
- Education for personal agency, active citizenship, and civic leadership
- Inclusive social infrastructure for exercising civic responsibility and action
- Responsive and proactive public officials, policy, and services
- Education for economic competence
- Entrepreneurial, conscientious, and adaptive business community and workforce
- Diverse mix of business, professional, and nonprofit enterprises
- Robust public, private, and social investment partnerships
- Innovative capitalization of undervalued assets and public goods
- Innovative business and financial models
