Strategic Planning for a Network of Regenerative Villages | Journal paper

Liaros, S. (2019). Implementing a New Human Settlement Theory: Strategic Planning for a Network of Regenerative Villages. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment 9: 258-271. https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-01-2019-0004

Download the full text of the Author Accepted Manuscript. This is a post-peer-reviewed, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Smart and Sustainable Built Environment. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-01-2019-0004

ABSTRACT
Whilst the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables offers significant environmental benefits, the other transition – from a centralised to a distributed energy system – underpins a disruptive model for planning cities, towns and villages. This paper asks: Is it inevitable that large cities will keep growing, while rural communities will continue to be deprived of resources and opportunities? Is the flow of people into cities inevitable?

This paper asks: Is it inevitable that large cities will keep growing, while rural communities will continue to be deprived of resources and opportunities? Is the flow of people into cities inevitable? To answer this question, the adopted methodology is to take a systems approach, observing town planning processes from a range of different disciplines and perspectives. By contrasting the current centralising city model with a distributed network of villages, this paper offers ten reasons why the distributed network is preferable to centralisation.

Furthermore, it is argued that in this time of dramatic technological upheaval, environmental destruction and social inequality, business-as-usual is unacceptable in any field of human endeavour. This paper presents a sketch outlining a new human settlement theory, a different way of living on the land and possible strategic town planning processes to enable this form of development.