The Art of Shaping the Metropolis

by Pedro Ortiz

Overview

A proven approach for addressing explosive metropolitan growth in an integrated and holistic manner

“The book provides a basis for the contemplation of the old network paradigm of the megalopolis into the informational meshwork of the mega- or metacity of the future. The handbook’s review of the networked past is invaluable, while its projection of these networks into future plans raises very many important questions for planners, urban designers, architects, and concerned citizens alike.” –From the Foreword by Professor Grahame Shane, Columbia University

For the first time, half the global population is living in urban areas—and that number is growing exponentially. Written by noted urban planner Pedro Ortiz, who served as director of the groundbreaking Madrid Metropolitan-Regional Plan, The Art of Shaping the Metropolis presents an innovative, agile solution for managing urban growth that enhances economic activity, environmental stability, and quality of life.

Based on the findings from Madrid and other cities, this timely guide offers a methodical system for addressing the crucial issues facing governments, professionals, the private and public sectors, developers, stakeholders, and inhabitants of twenty-first-century metropolises. The book details new rubrics to identify the process of growth and its evolution, new tools to monitor and gauge them, and new methods to synthesize them into a professional praxis that will be sustainable for the long term. Ortiz demonstrates how metropolises can be organized for a future that preserves the historic nucleus of the city and the environment, while providing for the necessary sustainable expansion of transportation, housing, and social and productive facilities.

Coverage includes:

• The dialogues of the metropolis
• The challenge
• The inheritance
• Balanced urban development—fabric and form
• The chess on a tripod (CiTi) method to build the model
• Madrid as testing ground
• Practical considerations in implementing a metropolitan plan
• Translating the model elsewhere

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071817974
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	10/29/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Pedro B. Ortiz was Deputy Mayor in charge of strategic planning and the General Director of urban and regional planning for the City-Region of Madrid when he introduced a metropolitan growth methodology in 1996: the Metro Matrix system. This plan was highly successful in controlling and monitoring the city’s explosive growth in a sustainable manner. As a Senior Urban Planner at the World Bank, Mr. Ortiz has developed similar metropolitan-regional projects in Tunis, Mexico City, Cairo, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Amman, Colombo, Accra, Kingston, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Bogotá, Istanbul, N’Djamena, Kampala, Baku, Monrovia, Ado-Ekiti, Kigali, Mombasa, Lekhnath, and Manila.

He is a Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of the INTA International Urban Development Association, and as such advises both planners and government officials in countries around the world on development issues. Mr. Ortiz was the founder of IRU Madrid, an urban planning consulting firm, and founder and Director of the Master’s Program of Urban Studies at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter One: The Challenge
Chapter Two: The Inheritance
Chapter Three: Balanced Urban Development
Chapter Four: The Theory
Chapter Five: Madrid as Testing Ground
Chapter Six: The Madrid Plan
Chapter Seven: Politics of the Madrid Plan
Chapter Eight: Madrid Results
Chapter Nine: Translating Madrid Elsewhere
Index