The Challenge of Urbanization in the Context of the New Urban Agenda: Towards a Sustainable Optimization of the Urban Standards

Abstract

Urbanization is one of the main challenges at present due to the increasing urban metrics (population, economy, land/energy/resources consumption, etc.) usually associated with urban sprawl through planned developments in the metropolitan peripheries and through informal unplanned developments. In this context, the New Urban Agenda has just been adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which considers urbanization as an opportunity, readdressing the way cities and human settlements are planned, designed, financed, developed, governed and managed to achieve a sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, among other issues. This approach has been questioned by some researchers and scholars proposing an Alternative Habitat III. As a contribution to this debate, this work raises the problem of urban development not only as a matter of magnitude but also of the adopted urban model, where design, that is, morphology and urban standards play a fundamental role in the achievement of objectives of sustainability. A selection of key indicators such as density, diversity of uses, open public space and the treatment of free building surfaces are analyzed, allowing the urban model to be optimized with sustainability criteria, being its application very simple and replicable in any territory. The way of transforming these indicators into urban standards, that are also related to the idiosyncrasy of the society is to take the needs of the citizen, not only current but future, as a unit of measure. The citizen is at the center of the discourse of urban sustainability in order to achieve greater and better development and wellbeing.