12 Sustainability as a process for urban development

D-r Ognen Marina

Today, cities are everywhere. From the first sedentary settlements to the contemporary territorial and digital extensions cities have become global phenomena. According to The World Bank urban development report52 over a half of the world population already lives in the urban environments with the prospect that more than 80% of the world population will become urban until year 2020. Cities are at once an expression of the cultural practices and technologies of the present53 . During this process of urbanization human civilization has become heavily depended on dynamics and the complexity of urban environments. The density of the population in the urban areas pose a constant challenge on urban and spatial planning, energy, transportation, water, public buildings and area, provisions of services, as well as on the climate change and the urban resilience. So, solutions for these pressures should be both highly efficient and sustainable on one hand, and on the other hand should generate development and social wellbeing with increased resilience.

Cities are complex and cities are dynamic. Cities have always been a mixing place between people and social, structural, cultural, legal, governmental, technological and other systems. The complexity of the cities and the emerging interactions make cities interesting and important for people. The variety of possibilities emerging through endless iterations of diverse systems and people are creating a unique environment for development and innovations. The density of people, ideas, interests and variety of social and spatial practices also create a critical territory of everyday conflicts that must be resolve, hence cities also face immanent pressure for adaptation and change. This process of constant adaptation and change is fertile ground for urban, social and technological development. This leads to reinvention of cities, where sustainability and the new requirements mandate smarter and resilient solutions and operations in cities.

However, the big questions that pertains is what actually sustainability means for cities and for urban development in general? Although its official definition from the

52 The World Bank, 2014 53 Verebes, 2014.