Prof.dr. Joris SCHEERS

„Key challenges in an urbanized Europe”

‘After decades of urban development, sprawl and regeneration, we now face new challenges in Europe. The transformative capacity of the city has to ensure that the collective welfare is guaranteed in the future. In the search for key challenges, several urban regeneration projects will be presented. Spatial quality, architectural design and urban governance are considered as key issues. The question is how they can be related with growing mobility and connectivity demands, a more diverse and intensive claim on urban space and the need for more energy conservation, environmental and health protection. The challenges cities are facing are very connected and success will depend on how closely they are aligned and integrated with each other.’

Prof. dr. Joris SCHEERS is a spatial planner and sociologist (PhD, MSc). He promoted on the theme of exponentially growing cities in Latin America at the KULeuven university (Belgium), where he is currently part-time visiting professor. As the former deputy Government Architect and manager Creative and sustainable cities he is involved in various urban and spatial policy issues within the Flanders Government of Belgium. He has performed over the past decades as an international consultant for spatial policy projects and programs in Latin-America, Africa and Asia. He has been nominated as UN-Habitat expert for the elaboration of International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning and is currently president of the European Council of Spatial Planners (ECTP-CEU).