Wednesday, 3rd February 2010. Mumbai, India. Francesca Galeazzi, Urban Strategies Leader, Arup, Seattle presents at the 2010 Mumbai Conference. Successful urban places are political choices supported by data: they are not the accumulation of data. A translation factor between the information collected and the people who need it is required. The real purpose of any city should be to optimize conditions for human development over time. Because major infrastructure systems that support urban development have such long life spans, coupled with the reality that the future is random, not determined, one of the key issues for urban planning is the capacity for adaptation. A city's ability to adapt is intrinsically linked to the political necessity of getting its citizens to consider the future as something to be embraced, not feared.
