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Events > TEDxKraków 2013
Jeroen Beekmans
Jeroen Beekmans is a human geographer and co-author of The Pop-Up City, a blog about grassroots urban development. What he finds really intriguing, and what he talks about on a daily basis, is the worldwide shift from 'city-planning' to 'city-making'. Only ten years ago, urban development was the territory of professionals who could only think in terms of master plans and hard, physical structures built to last for 100 years. Globalization and technological innovation have put these ideas under pressure. As change accelerates, how could you ever 'plan' a city? Then the economic crisis broke out, requiring a radical re-interpretation of urbanism in which the 'soft' side of cities (the people) has become at least as important as the 'hard' side (the structures). All around the world urbanites take the initiative to shape their own environment and become city-makers through projects like a community garden, a temporary restaurant around the corner, a blog and even a chocolate bar.