Urban Development Taxonomy

How does a city develop into a global destination?  Is a city more than a collection of great buildings?  Is a city more than a collection of great people?  What makes a city great?  What are the forces that drive urban development?

There are many sites that provide tourism related information about cities.  While we want to understand what makes a city great, we are also interested in the messy gray area, where decisions are made about the future of a city.  What drives such decision-making?  Is that purely a speculative gamble or are there hidden forces at work?  What roles do design professionals play in such decision-making?  What role does leadership play?  Where does such leadership come from?  What role does local government play?  

We will focus on four broad categories of urban interventions:

Tourism development: 

Urban interventions intended to spur or support tourism.

Hotels, convention centers, museums, art galleries, public arts festivals, fashion shows, business shows, public expositions, public events. Ecotourism, sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, leisure, recreation, urban tourism, parks, sports stadiums, arenas, public plazas,

Smart infrastructure: 

Urban interventions intended to spur or support smart urbanization technologies.

Smart grid, smart design, smart transit, smart buildings, renewable energy, sustainable architecture, green building, smart architecture, smart meters, smart traffic signaling, mass transit, smart city, smart infrastructure, augmented reality, urban data networks, collaborative networks, digital city.

Economic development: 

Urban interventions intended to spur or support economic development.

Business incubators, start-ups, universities, research centers, innovation labs, demonstration projects, affordable housing, transit hubs, rezoning, urban renewal, environmental remediation, brown fields, urban design, new construction, renovation, mass transit systems, manufacturing, warehousing, freight delivery, transportation, logistics, urban upgrading, finance, law, regulations, institutions, leadership.

Branding and global identity: 

Urban interventions intended to create a unique brand.

Global influence, city image, uniqueness, branding, identity, signature buildings, global events, public expositions, leadership, historic preservation, tourist attractions, urban design, celebrations.

Miscellaneous Key words:

General information, summary, statistics, comparative study, geography, emergency preparedness, disaster mitigation, low income housing, urbanization, slum upgrading, geography, climate, culture, people, demographics, history.

Photo Credit:  Stanislav Kozlovskiy under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.