Conference Themes

The Asia Link Urban and City Design Curriculum Development project has been investigating / debating/ discussing emerging Urban Design and Planning Practices within South Asia with the aim of developing context specific curricula in urban and City  Design . Within the general perspective of a predominantly project based approach towards Urban Design and city marking there is increasing scope for producing spatially coherent sustainable forms  of urban development .The capacity of projects to negotiate between formal and informal modes of urban production . To operate at different scales simultaneously, to embed historical and cultural heritage .to respond to complex topographical conditions. to recalibrate dynamic natural and manmade system, to accommodate rapidly changing socio –economic conditions ,etc . Urban projects are an important device for engaging a multiplicity of actors, agents and resources to Co-produce the city. Their capacity to accommodate local differences makes them particularly suited to an evolving institutional landscape and increasingly complex interplay between public, private and other actors within society. Urban design can consequently be used as a mechanism for reframing development initiatives to generate strategic urban projects.

The Design Studio and the importance of Case Based learning have been advanced as Key vehicles to conduct the discussion about urban Design curricula and the development of an urban deign practice as they allow the context specific nature of strategic urban projects to be grasped and individual project marking experiences to be thought. Academics, researchers and practitioners in Architecture, urban Design, Planning and related fields are invited to present papers that specifically address one of there two aspects of urban Design curricula for the south Asian context in particular and / or developing context in general. Professionals dealing with integrated urban development projects such as infrastructure planning, water, solid waste and urban management etc. are also encouraged to participate.