Designing multifunctional urban spaces
Competitiveness of inner cities relates to their multifunctional structure. Large parts of the service sector that were once concentrated in inner cities have pushed towards suburban areas. This has resulted in the need for new means of guiding the important developments that have arisen. The research of the COMET project therefore centres on multi-purpose endeavours with the aim of designing new urban space within the realm of emergent urban networks. The scope of their efforts extended beyond the economic function of linking the region with international networks of modern service economies. It also entailed altering social and cultural purposes and the treatment of environmental sustainability. This is so that new urban spaces can be created according to qualitative value rather than only an exchange value of commercial space. This double institutional challenge regarding new urban spaces has shaped the decision-making process and addressed the need for multi-level connectedness and of democratic and innovative integration. As such, groups of innovative dimensions in the shaping of large-scale urban projects were analysed. The case studies of the large-scale urban projects were prepared with full support of academic researchers and professional end users from the seven metropolitan regions involved. The amount of economic activity needed to be vast enough to assure a substantial impact on the region's competitiveness. A questionnaire was used as a guide for analyzing the case studies. Additionally, roughly eighty interviews were conducted with major figures in the city regions in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the analysis.
