Ways towards city development and new technologies

Abstract

Cities are challenged with constant changes. Unpredictability is a product of multilevel changes implying new thinking of city development and place making process. New thinking is related to theory of decision making, according to which we have to develop plenty ways of city development to be in a position for travelling along and across the ways. Therefore, we need new technologies to generate and evaluate the ways, so we can be proactive in city development and place making. The paper will discuss pros and cons of using new technologies in the process assuming that the technology per se is not an instrument for place making. Research thesis is that integration between new technologies, interdisciplinary and social knowledge is necessary to generate and evaluate appropriate ways. In line with this, the ways should be agreed in various social arenas, lining on new technologies as a support for data gathering, producing new information for discussion and clarification, using different diagrams, graphs, charts, reports and thematic maps for analysis of city’s places and generating consensual ways for improving them or create new ones. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to discuss the role of new technologies in city development and place making in regards to decision making and place making theory. The paper will result in a form of conceptual model for using new technologies in city and place development. The method will use comparative analysis of decision making and place making theory as well as students’ case studies that are result of ten years work at the subject “The Future of the City”.