Plans of Action for Urban Expansion: Advances, Findings, and Moving to Scale

For the last three years, the NYU Stern Urbanization Project has collaborated with the local governments of several intermediate, fast growing cities in Colombia, and with the national government of Ethiopia, supporting their efforts to face their urban expansion in an orderly and sustainable way. We call these collaborations the Colombia Urban Expansion Initiative and the Ethiopia Urban Expansion Initiative; we also have launched an exploratory phase in Mexico. The main objecitve of these initiatives is simple: to assist cities in formulating plans of action to address long term growth, using the framework of their existing planning and managerial tools, but with a radically simplified program that also lengthens the planning horizon, allowing for the creation of implementable 30-year plans. The work of NYU does not stop at the production of a paper plan, but continues with the cities through the development and implementation of a process for securing needed lands for a network
of arterial roads and the protection and preservation of large public open spaces.
At this event, experts from New York University will explain the basis of the concept. Mayors from Colombia and Mexico will discuss their work and results. Officials from Ethiopia will discuss their work in making urban expansion a pillar of the National Growth and Transformation Plan II, and implementing urban expansion on the ground.