Sustainable cities aren’t a concept specific to Eugene or even the United States.
Deni Ruggeri, UO assistant professor of landscape architecture, is involved in bringing them to a destination halfway around the world: Morocco.
Ruggeri will speak at the conference “New Medina: from Pilot Towns to Sustainable Cities,” in Morocco from June 9 to 13. The consortium is the culmination of a multiyear project that assembles experts and stakeholders to share planning strategies for the creation of sustainable “new towns” in Morocco, Algeria and Egypt.
New Medina aims to develop an integrated approach of sustainable new towns in the South-Mediterranean and to share information through best practices panels of experts, workshops and publications between Europe and Africa. Ruggeri will join colleagues from partner countries in drafting final recommendations that will be presented later this summer at a meeting of the European Union.
In 2012, Ruggeri served as academic expert for the project. His role included making recommendations to the Algerian government on “the integration of sustainable practices in the planning of the new town of Sidi Abdellah, Algeria, including the preservation of topsoil in agricultural landscapes, the on-site treatment of stormwater through landscape infrastructure and a stronger place identity,” he said.
The conference will also serve as the official book launch of “New Medinas: Towards Sustainable New Towns,” to which Ruggeri contributed a chapter. His chapter is entitled “A Traveling Concept: The New Town Ideal from Howard’s Garden City to Today’s Ecocity.” The book, edited by Pascaline Gaborit, is published by Peter Lang.
Ruggeri’s chapter is an excursus of the evolution of the new town concept. “It highlights similarities and differences, and makes a case for the role of open space and the landscape as a resource for their long-term resilience, self-sufficiency and community identity,” he said.
“New Medina: from Pilot Towns to Sustainable Cities” is one of twenty-one projects of the CIUDAD program (Cooperation in Urban Development And Dialogue) launched by the European Commission. The project’s main themes have been sustainable development and energy efficiency; economic development and reduction of social disparities; and good governance, long-term development and urban planning.
With a budget of just under $1 million, the project is comprised of European and North African new towns Marne-la-Vallée Val Maubué, France, leader of the project; El Shrouk, near Cairo; Sidi Abdellad, near Alger; and the city of Chrafate, near Tangier. The project also includes the Lazio region in Italy, the European New Towns Platform, network of 32 European New Towns, and the association Touiza Solidarité based in Marseilles.
- from the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts