Because of increasing public interest in ecological sustainable solutions, many terms and conditions were created in the last few years to support the use of energy-saving technology and sustainable products in the real estate branch. Fundamental are the national, Europe-wide and international laws, ordinances, norms and guidelines that specify energy efficiency standards for buildings and grounds. However, because laws and norms always represent only the minimum standard, due to how they originate and are elaborated, they do not reflect the energy potential possible for the construction industry under economic terms and conditions today.
After this first successful year, it is time for a review. The basic idea behind this blog is that in 2007, for the first time in history, the world’s urban population exceeds the rural population with every second inhabitant living in a city – sustainable urban city planning is one of the biggest challenges of our time. For that reason, Eurohypo AG initiated PerfectCity.net to support international open dialogue, discussion and the exchange of ideas, opinions and visions – PerfectCity.net stands for discussions about the future of our cities.
So far, people from 1.516 cities from 121 countries of the world took interest in these discussions. And in addition to the experts who have given very valuable insights and input, many readers from diverse international locations participated actively and took the chance to publish their own article or interview. We would like to thank you for your active and valuable contribution for the discussion about the future of our cities!
Within PerfectCity’s first year, many interesting topics have been presented and discussed.
The first issue of the PerfectCity Charter "The City of The Future" is now online. The dossier aims to summarize the developments and discussions on PerfectCity in the light of Issue No.1 Urban Design. It also includes the results of the latest poll, which was to find out the most important facets of urban design. Both the dossier and the poll results can be found here.
While some people are still sceptical about all the warnings that the world climate is dramatically changing, polar researchers at the University of Illinois reported in August that ever since measurements began in 1979, the ice on the North Pole has shrunk more than ever before. Anyone not alarmed about this yet must at least be wondering about the feverish excitement anticipating an ice-free Arctic.
In the last months some people started believing in the city analysis tools space syntax: On Spaceyntax.com it reads that "Space Syntax provides a unique, evidence based approach to the planning and design of buildings and cities.” Here, the focus lies on the creation of environments which are socially and economically successful. The main idea is to utilize technology to generate knowledge and give ideas that aim to assist in making key decisions about the world around them.
Dear Mr. Oyeku, what is your field of practice/interest in urban design?
My interest is in urban planning and management. Basically, my field of practice contributes to efficient urban land use planning and effective control of urban land use in the urban systems. For a city to be liveable and to serve its functions as engine of growth and catalyst of development, its important to ensure efficient urban planning and control, this will certainly provide a safe , clean, healthy and aesthetically pleasing urban environment. In the expansion of urban centres, the understanding of the spatial structure of the urban systems and the challenges associated with their development is very crucial in order to craft relevant strategies for planning and management of the cities.
The ceremony of the International Urban Landscape Award (IULA) took place in Frankfurt/Main (Germany) on Friday 5 October. The winner was chosen by the jury from around 60 entries from EU, Switzerland, USA, Canada and Mexico.
The official certificate of recognition for the Public Favourite from PerfectCity voting was handed over to a representative of the Department of Urban Planning Bydgoszcz for the project Bydgoszcz Water Junction (Poland).
The Urban Design Committee of the APA Metro Chapter (New York City) is looking for ideas. Our first project sought answers to questions about how well the planning and design community engages the public and how community-initiated activities help to build and improve the "public space".
Our call for submissions from the New York metropolitan region yielded useful insight into the relationship of civic engagement practices and the products of planning and design. A volunteer jury of planning professionals gave the Urban Design Committee advice at an all-day session held at the Regional Planning Association. A white paper on the subject is in draft form and remains available for editing and development, including a slide presentation. It also includes a summary of findings and plans for a larger workshop. (See links below)
As of 1 October 2007 www.ourbania.com, a new commercial real estate community, is online. Ourbania is focussing on architects, urban planners, investors and real estate professionals.
In Ourbania you can present your favourite buildings, so-called urban items, with details and photos from flickr (located on google.maps). All registered community members (citizens) are able to add further information and comments to the projects and permitted to valuate them. Ourbania includes photos of the projects and displays them using google.maps as an interactive commercial real estate map.
Ourbania is intended to be the virtual venue for the real estate sector. It offers a global directory for commercial real estate projects and is expected to be constantly expanding. Target-specific searches for global projects are enabled by a powerful filter. Ourbania citizens will create an online metropolis with hundreds of thousands of crosslinks between people and buildings. You can meet other people to share thoughts and ideas about buildings and landmarks.
The community is founded by mediaman GmbH and Eurohypo AG.
Take a look at www.ourbania.com. You are welcome to join the community and create your urban item!
The IULA 2007 goes to 
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