Designing for the future of the city

A rapid acceleration in urbanization has appeared as an important by-product of the world's globalization process, with the result that cities have now become man's primary habitat. This development is both forcing urban environments to embrace increasing numbers of inhabitants, despite their often limited resources, and requiring 21st century architects and urban planners to quickly develop new ideas and new forms on how to direct the futures of global cities. Faced as they are by the challenges of sustainability, these architects and planners are exploring ways both to rehabilitate existing urban centers and come up with new modes of space production. This study concentrates on the concept of the smart city and explores these new approaches by considering the findings achieved by the IAAC Global Summer School, which was conducted at the ITU Faculty of Architecture in 2013. This summer school was conducted as a means in the investigation of new strategies for urban development and city production by focusing on such different aspects as the production of knowledge, production of food, production of objects, and the production of energy. In order to enhance the discussion of this development, this work looks at the method of exploration utilized and the ideas set forth by the architectural student participants and considers their suggestions for adaptive and reactive spatial infrastructures. The aim of this study is to the enable architects to enhance their spatial awareness while generating new ideas for the future of the city.