Cities in Metropolitan Regions - International symposium on urbanism

The organisation of the metropolitan territory is a critical issue not only for the life of citizens, but also to ensure the efficient operations and relationship carried out every day by the various social and economic agents. Global trends such as globalisation, economic decline of developed economies, population shift and climate change are leading to a new geography of thinking. These transformations are challenges that go beyond political borders, surpassing the local scale of single municipalities. To be able to efficiently and rapidly confront them, there is a growing need for a metropolitan plan.

The Conference explored mechanisms that support new metropolitan synergies that aggregate functions rather than zoning them, that foster values rather than infrastructure (Alfonso Martinez). The cooperation of the different metropolitan stakeholders and the need for democratic governance were regarded as essential to articulate visions, identify alliances and provide space for synergy, flexibility and initiatives.