Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft - Das internationale Forum der Deutschen Bank - Urban Age

By the end of the 21st century, two-thirds of the world's population will be living in cities or urban centres, and 2020 1.4 billion people will be living in slums. Cities are the engines of the world’s economic, cultural and scientific development. It is here that all the problems facing our world today confront each other in the most confined of spaces. Therefore, the issue is not whether cities will continue to grow but how, where and what kind of cities do we wish to live in the future.

For this reason, the Alfred Herrhausen Society (AHS), together with the London School of Economics (LSE), set up its Urban Age project.

Urban Age analyses the problems facing mega-cities, brings mayors, architects, city planners, scientists and NGO's together and enables them to learn from one another. An international network of competence has been growing since 2005 - a mobile think-tank - with the goal of finding better solutions for our cities.

Up to now, conferences have taken place in New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Berlin, Mumbai, São Paulo and Istanbul. Topics such as traffic, security, governability, sustainability and the use of public spaces have defined the discussions depending on their relevance for each city. Here, the AHS brings to bear its experiences regarding the issue of governability and the economic competence of a global company, Deutsche Bank.

As there will not be any Urban Age Conference in 2010 the Alfred Herrhausen Society and LSE are organising together with the Brookings Institution the "Global Metro Summit - Delivering the Next Economy" in December in Chicago.

Initial analyses and outcomes of the conference series have been compiled in the book entitled “The Endless City”.

Since 2010 LSE Cities a new centre of urban excellence has been created to develope new programms of research, education and outreach that cut across disciplinary boundaries.

As part of the Urban Age conferences, the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award distinguishes exemplary partnerships dedicated to improving the standard of living in their cities.

More Information
http://www.urban-age.net/
www2.lse.ac.uk/LSECities/