º£½ÇÊÓƵ

Join Lawrie Robertson, Head of Strategic Planning, º£½ÇÊÓƵ at the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat conference for the much anticipated ‘Retrofitting Density Workshop’ on Monday September 23^rd, from 1.30pm (to 5pm).

Making our existing cities more compact, walkable, and resilient is essential to addressing climate crisis and enhancing quality of life. Retrofitting the necessary enabling density into existing cities is challenging even in global cities with strong real estate markets and robust existing public transport systems. It’s even harder, but just as essential, in the much larger number of cities whose development history has not given them the advantage of compact plans or high-capacity systems.  

Don’t miss this interactive workshop will explore approaches to retrofitting density in smaller cities- drawing on experience developing the urban plans for Detroit, Abu Dhabi and Semarang with diverse speakers drawn from both the city planner, developer, and consultant perspectives. 

Workshop Structure 

Part 1: Retrofitting Density – Setting the Challenge 

Challenge and Examples: short presentations to set the challenge and show case a diverse set of examples and perspectives from city, developers, and consultants: 

Lawrie Robertson – Setting the Challenge – why retrofitting density in smaller cities is critical 

Martina Juvara – Comparing Examples – comparing examples: Detroit, Abu Dhabi/Riyadh and Semarang 

Reinier de Graaf – the Developer Experience –  

Parvathi Nampoothiri – the City Planner Experience 

Followed by a Q&A 

Part 2: Workshop Session

Two streams – each started by an initial speaker provocation and then followed by a participative group session (participants can choose which stream to join):  

Stream 1 – The Developer Perspective:  

Group Session  

• Using a typical low density inner/mid-urban area in a smaller city: 
  
  • Developer strategies for density retrofit 
    
  • Essential supporting systems 
    
  • Essential regulatory/financial support 

Stream 2 – The City Perspective: 

Martina Juvara City Planner – Initial Provocation:  

• How can density retrofit be achieved at speed and scale in smaller cities?
  
• Who needs to help (and how)? – and who/what needs to get out of the way?  
   

Group Session  

• Using a typical low density inner/mid-urban area in a smaller city: 
  
  • Strategies for density retrofit 
    
  • Essential supporting systems 
    
  • Essential regulatory/financial support 

Part 3: Bringing it Together

Stream Reports:  

Martina Juvara – Sum-up of the City planning session 

• Finalisation
  
  • Lawrie Robertson – Sum up of the Overall Session
    

Meet the speakers