Overview

We live in times of profuse change, where hyperconnectivity and fast-shifting influences are radically changing how we live, consume, work, and play. By challenging the traditional realms in which urban design and planning operate, this book asserts that not only must we do better, but that we can. Arun argues that the first step toward adaptive and resilient futures is making a fuller spectrum of the complexity of cities comprehensible to all. Drawing upon diverse disciplines like cultural anthropology, evolutionary biology, economic theory, behavioral sciences, systems thinking, and technology, he provides fresh foundations for addressing decades of physical and social underinvestment and neglect across a range of urban challenges. They include transportation, housing affordability, healthcare, the elderly, education, and aspects of economic underinvestment. The need for adaptive governance is also discussed. Arun’s narrative underscores how we must better embrace uncertainty to make our cities vibrant, comfortable, healthy, and inclusive while also being resilient and adaptive. He posits we do not need to predict the future to do this. This book is essential for urban designers, planners, landscape architects, and postgraduate students in these fields. It is also a good primer for anyone wanting to understand the complex dynamics of cities.

Full Product Details

9780367233358

Table of Contents

Reviews

""This book challenges the traditional intellectual domains and procedures of city planning and urban design. At a time when people’s ways of life and values are rapidly changing, Jain offers approaches to decision-making for uncertain futures drawing on his successful, lengthy and varied international experience in dealing with issues of social and physical design. The book should be required reading for professionals and students in those fields self-consciously shaping the built environment."" Jon T. Lang, Emeritus Professor, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia ""In this remarkable book, Arun Jain offers a layered warehouse of ideas and solutions for our cities. It reflects a lifetime achievement in urban thinking and practice. Jain essentially and eloquently teaches us to embrace complexity and work towards innovative approaches for resilient cities. While the mission is challenging, this book provides tremendous encouragement for creating a better urban future. Rich, readable, and practical - this is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of our cities."" Fred Schoorl, Program Director, Master City Developer, Erasmus University, TU Delft ""How can planning, urban design, and their allied professions contribute to the built environment? Jain's deceptively simple question is critically and meticulously interrogated with a keen attention to fine detail. Drawing on allied disciplines, and replete with many practical examples, Jain’s timely book offers us a shared narrative of why and how our trajectory towards increasingly complex and uncertain futures could be inclusive, resilient and adaptive."" Julian Agyeman, Professor, Tufts University ""Arun Jain posits a fresh approach for contemporary urbanism that embraces complexity, change, and the unknowable, while avoiding set theories and manifestos. He calls for multi-disciplinary understanding, place-anchored imperatives, socially responsible solutions, systemic frameworks, care with technologies and data, and agility of action. His approach couples clarity of the long view with flexibility and adaptability in the early steps forward. This is a vital refresher for the practice of all urbanists."" Larry Beasley, C.M.

Author Information

Arun Jain is a multidisciplinary urban designer and strategist with over four decades of experience across professional practice, academia, institutions, city executive roles, and the UN. His professional contributions span 165 cities across 46 countries, impacting over 90 public and private sector urban development projects. Arun enjoys cooking and is an avid collector of books and music.

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