Three Key Notions for Reinventing the European City

The world-famous architect Bernard Reichen here outlines his future vision for European cities within the present context of “sustainable development”. After reviewing the wrong turn taken by urbanism with the Athens Charter of 1942, he shows that we are ready today in Europe to reinvent the city, particularly where its practices are concerned. This reinvention, argues Bernard Reichen, will have three themes to it: strengthening the element of connectivity, promoting an “urban nature” and making use of recycling (the “sustainable city”). The twofold – ecological and economic – crisis we are currently living through thus presents us with an opportunity to rethink urban development. It is up to Europe’s cities to grasp this opportunity to reinvent a new art of city living.