Proximity planning: A local strategy for global problems, or a global strategy for local problems?

Proximity and accessibility are planning principles of urban resilience increasingly used in contemporary urban areas to promote decarbonization of mobility, support the healthy city and vital neighborhoods, and increase urban resilience. In the United States, proximity planning encompasses a long and innovative tradition such as new urbanism, smart growth, transit oriented development, complete communities, and the city of the “quart of milk”. In Europe, similar efforts to implement proximity planning are under way, with two cases standing out: Paris, with the “15-minute City,” and Barcelona, ​​with its “superilla”  or super block. Elsewhere, cities elsewhere are following suit. From Portland and Melbourne, to Ottawa and Bogota, an increasing number of cities are incorporating similar principles into their spatial and mobility plans.At the same time, the recent COVID19 crisis inspired hundreds of examples of the application of the principles of proximity planning.

Despite its relevance, research on proximity and accessibility planning has not kept pace with the resurgence in practice. What are critical emerging topics for research and implementation? What topics have been overlooked? Can these strategies be easily adapted to different contexts? This symposium will contribute to discussions about proximity planning as a core strategy to improve urban livability and resilience, focusing on the revitalization of existing cities, detailing the innovations of the two European cases mentioned above, and exploring their applicability to the revitalization of cities in the Americas.

Sponsored and organized by UC Berkeley’s: Institute of Transportation Studies , Department of City and Regional Planning, Institute for European Studies, and Global Metropolitan Studies. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Departamento de Urbanística y Ordenación del Territorio. Technical University of Munich.