Cities for humanity and development – iii

For the third webinar of the series, PIDE invited North American Urban Planner and former Chief Urban Planner for the City of Vancouver, Brent Toderian. This session was moderated by Vice Chancellor PIDE, Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque. Brent Toderian started by stating that although he has not visited Pakistan, having listened to the issues that Pakistani cities are currently facing, he sees many parallels between Pakistani cities and the cities that he has worked in both developed and developing countries. He stressed the importance of creating cities where people are not dependent on cars for mobility. Furthermore, he went on to describe how the need is for planners to create urban spaces that include more “interactive streets” i.e. streets on which people can walk and engage with businesses and other activities. These interactive streets are important ingredients for creating what he branded as “doing density better”.