The Agents and Processes of Urban Transformation

Abstract

The third chapter focuses on the different agents and agencies responsible for, and on the complex processes of, urban transformation. It analyzes how each one of us takes part in the process of transformation of the urban landscape: as a developer of an action of transformation of the urban forms, as an architect responsible for the design of new physical forms, as the builder of these forms or, in a more indirect way, as a planning officer designing a city vision and guiding private activity in his day-to-day practice of development control, or as an elected politician defining a political strategy for the city. In addition, the chapter aims at understanding the processes of urban transformation: how do we organize ourselves as a society to build a balance between a comprehensive view of the city, usually a planned view, and a number of different contributions eventually associated with a higher spontaneity. It is argued that this balance between unity and diversity is essential in a city that wants to be attractive, in morphological terms.