Outcomes

The goal of the 2013 Remaking Cities Congress was to create an action agenda, a manifesto, for the future of post-industrial cities for the next twenty-five years.

Delegates heard from leading thinkers in urbanism and toured Pittsburgh in six Mobile Workshops to experience its transformation from a heavy manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy. Ten city case studies were presented in pairs, one European city with one North American city: Bilbao and Milwaukee; Ruhr Valley and Buffalo; Manchester/Liverpool and Toronto/Hamilton; Rotterdam and New Orleans; and Turin and Detroit. Two special presentations featured "The Pittsburgh Story” and “Designer Democracy”.

However, the core of the Congress was spent in all-day Theme Workshops that dealt with post-industrial cities in five theme areas: Repositioning the City in the Global Economy; the Physical City; the City as an Innovation Hub; Urban Systems and Infrastructure; and Planning and Social innovation. Debate was spirited. In the final session of the Congress the delegates voted on twenty-seven propositions that came from these workshops. An overall theme of equity emerged: equity in all its manifestations—social, economic, and environmental.

Click on Congress Videos to view the keynote speakers and the plenary panel presentations. Download the Case Study and Thought Leader presentations that set the context for each of the five day-long Theme Workshops.