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D. Wiegand:
"In-Between-Cities - a behavioral view on cityscape";
Keynote Lecture: PLiC Public Life in the In-Between-City International Conference, Haifa (invited); 2010-06-06 - 2010-06-10; in: "PLiC Public Life in the In-Between-City International Conference", Eigenverlag: ITT Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Haifa (2010), ISBN: 978-965-91138-4-2; 161 - 162.

In-between-cities, cities without what we expect from cities, districts between historical city centers and open landscape, very often seem to be jotted sketchily without any intervention of urban planners or inner logic. They are - however - at least in western European countries - based on zoning plans and public infrastructure measures. The built environment seems to match individual consumer preferences: the desire of families to raise their children in single family houses on the outskirts of the cities; the wish to purchase furniture in pieces in Swedish shops located at highways and to take a walk in shopping centers and not in public streets.

Analysis of economic forces, of decisions and behavior behind the townscape of in-between-cities unveils pretended consumer preferences and democratic decisions. A better understanding of business processes and external effects probably enables strategic urban planners to develop a new perspective for in-between-cities. Best cases in Switzerland, Austria and Germany demonstrate efficient interventions from draconic legislation to net-business initiation and festivals, representing a new fresh understanding of urban planning.

in-between-city, urban planning, european city

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_186945.pdf