‘Modernization & Regionalism – Re-inventing the Urban Identity’ is the title of an international conference that took place from October 18th – 20th, 2006 in Beijing. The theme of the conference is the increasing contradiction between the modernization of cities and regions on the one hand, the cultural identity and sustainability of these places on the other. The conference was organized by the International Forum on Urbanism, collaboration between TU Delft, Tsinghua University Beijing, NTU Taipei. and Berlage Institute Rotterdam. Subject Urbanization is a key issue of our time. Never before in history has human society gone through a comparable process of urbanization. Never before have urban agglomerations expanded as today. New and transformed agglomerations of unprecedented dimensions are developing, giving rise to new urban cultures and economies, forming unknown challenges for the planning disciplines and unpredictable threats to the environment. The speed of these transformation processes is generating growing contradictions. On the one hand, there are the demands to modernize cities and societies, while on the other, there is the destruction of traditional ways of living, and generating fundamental threats for people and environment. The contradictions are appearing on different levels of scale: within the city, between rapidly developing new centralities and more traditional areas which have been home to local populations; between the core city and suburban areas; and between different regions. The results include increasing social conflicts, the disruption of living conditions of rural peoples, the exploitation and contamination of the environment, and, last but not least, the loss of cultural and social identity. The processes of urbanization and transformation are affecting the development of cities all over the world, in industrialized countries as well as in developing ones. In China, with its rapidly developing economy, the management of these processes poses a special challenge. There is hardly another country in the world where the spatial structure of the city and the social and economic conditions of the population are changing in a comparable way. The relationship between old and new identities and the role of cultural roots in the processes of urban modernization and transformation are being questioned in a special way in this country at present. Aims The conference aims to discuss the phenomena of urbanization and regional transformation in different countries and continents, to analyze causes, reasons and dependencies of these worldwide transformation processes and to explore planning strategies and design concepts for a more identical and sustainable development of cities and regions. Both, research and design approaches are important issues. Within this framework, differing specialties and scales will be integrated: urban {and regional} planning and management, urban and architectural design, urban sociology, geography and ecology. Target groups During the conference, scientific results, as well as design concepts and technical solutions, will be presented; theoretical approaches will be discussed as well as professional experiences and best practices. With this in mind, the target group covers a range of different backgrounds: architects and urban planners; students and researchers from different disciplines; managers and politicians, all of whom are involved in or interested in design, planning and the management of the built environment. Call for paper Papers are invited for submission under the following sub-themes Sub-themes A. The Regional Question: Planning and Development on a Regional Level City and suburbs: social and spatial problems of suburbanization Conditions for an integrated development on regional level Spatial models Design approaches on regional level B. Architectural Intervention between Internationalism and Regionalism Urban architecture and postmodernism Mode
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