The city of tomorrow is already with us

Abstract

This vision, launched in November 2003 in the new Athens Charter proposed by the European Council of Town Planners, seems to be irrelevant to what we do on a daily basis, as well as to a series of guiding documents and regulations that emphasize the need to impose a transformation, not just of cities, but of ways of life in order to guarantee the desired sustainable development, set out in 2015. But, no, this statement in no way opposes what has been defined and only alerts us to something we already knew: the past offers lessons for the future and that the city and its urban heritage are the basis on which we build the city of the future.

Some of the great challenges facing humanity today have to do with cities, which is why the 2015 SDGs advocated the need to Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. We know that they are the human habitat par excellence, but we also know that they have to change, that the green transition is urgent and desirable.  It's not just a question of calling for more environmentally friendly public transport planning, or the introduction of green or natural-based solutions, but of a transition of the city and its society, which together uses the beautiful and the sustainable to create a new physical and social reality, as advocated by the New European Bauhaus.

However, in this construction, culture, the knowledge accumulated over the years will certainly play a crucial role, and this is what the history of the transformation of cities, or their urbanism, has revealed to us, and it is with this awareness that we must prepare the response to the radical transformation that the city needs. But will it be so radical or will the approach be radical? We believe it will be precisely that, and that's precisely what the title of this essay tells us. What we create will be radically new, but it will be a construction based on what exists today. Let's not fool ourselves, it's not about avoiding change, on the contrary, it's already necessary and desirable, let's not resign ourselves to it, but it is necessary to work with what exists today so as not to compromise either the sustainable future or identity.

As Carl Elefante stated " The greenest building is the one that already exists " with this in mind we what to discuss how we can build tomorrows city with the one we already have today.