| The development of towns was one of the most characteristic trends of the 20th century. By the 21st century, the urban population has exceeded, for the first time in history, 50% of the total figure. This tendency is supposed to be reinforced in the next years.
Why do cities grow so explosively, and what spatial forms will they assume in the
future? What mechanisms underlie the economic development of cities? What does sustainable urban development mean? Those are the questions that both spatial management and urban geography seek to answer. The body of theoretical knowledge accumulated in this field, both abroad and in Poland, is substantial. In the recent years the notion of a complex adaptive system is employed to model the socio-economic and spatial development of towns. It helps to elucidate many processes that play a key role in the development of towns, especially big cities. When considered in their spatial aspect, cities are modelled using the theory of fractal geometry.
Sessions will proceed within the following major thematic blocks:
. New directions in urban economics
. Cities as complex systems
. Cities and innovation processes
. Vulnerability, resilience and sustainability of cities
. Cities and human security
. Cities and city regions
. Fractal aspects of urban development.
Since the aim of the conference is to provide a forum for an exchange of experiences in, and the presentation of the state of research on, relations between the growth of cities, their sustainability and fractality, papers addressing those issues are strongly encouraged. And the thematic blocks listed above should not be treated as a closed set. |
