The image and the region. Making mega-city region visible

Mega-city regions are currently a frequent topic of discussion. Researchers are exploring the fundamentals for understanding the role of metropolitan regions and their social, economic, and cultural developments on a national and European basis. The responsible decision makers in politics and business are calling for new measures for greater urban areas.
But that is just the start of the problem: Europe seems to lack an awareness for metropolitan regions. For the majority of politicians, planners, institutions, and residents the features of mega-city regions remain invisible. They are scarcely charted; there are no concepts for representing them or any direct sensory understanding of them in everyday life.
The book is based on the understanding that the visual depiction of mega-city regions is fundamental to identifying, acting, and developing within existing concentrations of urban populations. Through essays from various disciplines the book approaches the phenomenon and discusses the necessity to visualize mega-city regions.
 

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. The Need of Getting a Picture of Mega-City Regions
prof. Alain Thierstein, Agnes Förster
2. Mapping the Hybrid Landscapes of Added Value in Mega-City Regions
dr. sc. ETH Christian Kruse
senior researcher, Head Swiss Financial Centre Watch Swiss Banking Institute, University of Zurich
3. Governing Mega-City Regions: the challenge of collective action
Prof. Simin Davoudi
Director of Centre for Urban Development and Environmental Management at Leeds Metropolitan University; President of the Association of European Schools of Planning

4. The Airport as a City
Maurits Schaafsma
architect, Head of Masterplanning Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam
5. Cooperation and Competition in Mega-City Regions
Wilhelm Natrup
urban and regional planer, Ernst Basler + Partner AG, Zurich/Potsdam
6. Reputation Management of Regions
Reinhard Frei
Communication consultant, freicom AG, relation management and communication, St.Gallen/Zurich

7. Visioning and Visualization. Experience from the North-West European Mega-City Regions
Wil Zonneveld
Spatial planner, urban studies, Senior researcher OTB Research Institute, Technical University Delft
8. Districts of Mega-City Regions:
Heiri Leuthold
geographer, Group Sotomo - sociotopological modelling, University of Zurich
9. Visualisation through Experience: Experiments in City-Regions:
Prof. Ursula Stein
Urban and Regional Planning, Honorary Professor for Communication in Planning, University of Kassel, Stein + Schultz, Frankfurt a.M.

10. Stimulating the Second Space: How to Improve the Legibility of a City-Region?
Julian Petrin
urbanista Better cities, Büro für Raumstimulation, Hamburg
11.Visualize Desires, not Cities:
Dr. Remo Burkhard
Competence Centre of Knowledge Visualization, University of St. Gallen
12. Images of Changing Environments: Real, Perceived and Visualised
Prof. Dr. Eckart Lange
landscape architect, professor for Landscape, University of Sheffield

13. Beyond Identity
Urs Primas
architect, Zurich; lecturer urban researches, ZHW Winterthur
14. Photography as a Perception Instrument
Meret Wandeler
photographer, School of Art and Design Zurich
15. Identification in Mega-City Regions
Beatrix Bencseky
designer HFG, SWB, Partner by ABBT AG, Design Concepts Zurich
15. Lessons learnt: Towards a Value Chain Approach to Spatial Development
prof. Alain Thierstein and Agnes Förster

EDITOR:
Alain Thierstein (1957) is Professor in the Department of Spatial Planning at the Technische Universität München
Agnes Forster (1976) is research associate in the Department of Spatial Planning at the Technische Universität München