Winner of the GERD ALBERS AWARD 2013:

Stanley C. T. YIP.  2011. Low Carbon Ecological Space:? Rethinking the Cross-Dimensional Approach to Urban Planning. Dalian, China: Dalian University of Science and Technology Press.

Everybody is grapling with climate change issues and this book addresses a number of aspects. It brings forward its message in a comprehensive way (theory, illustrated with case studies the author himself was involved directly). It has a clear and ordered structure and explains the adaptation of current environmental concepts to justify the author’s arguments. In pursuit of a sustainable model for contemporary patterns of urbanisation, a more scientific approach is championed though the author’s own work.  As a practical guide to the translation of those environmental concepts into a foundation for conceptual planning, the author has helped to provide a more codified rationale for planning.  The six planning concepts are timely in the face of unprecedented environmental challenges and serve as a model to apply to our urban future.

Other Entries included:

Luis Ainstein. 2011. Estructuracion Urbana, Institucionalidad y Sustentabilidad De Ciudades Metropolitanas Y Regiones Difusas. Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires.  A thoughtful discussion of the contradictory processes of sprawl and containment, based on six specific case studies about post war urbanisation process and how it is handled by planning (or not as the case may be).

Caroline Bos.  2012.  Hello Stranger – Phenomenology and Topology of the Megacity.  AD-Architectural Design, 82(5): 136-141.  A provocative essay on why the megacity must be understood first and foremost through the way in which it is experienced.  Architectural challenges and potentials are then located.

Caroline Bos.  2012.  Self-Organization.  Stichting Archis, 146-149.   An insightful exploration of professionalism and self-organization in the architectural community.  The basic argument is that these two attributes should not be antagonistic, but complementary.

Morched Chabbi. 2012.  L’urbain en Tunisie, Processus et Projets. Tunis: Edition NIRVANA. A well-structured, concise, and evidence based collection of articles on urban development in Tunis and other cities in Tunisia.  Of direct value to planners but also to a wider constituency which has to grapple with similar issues of urban expansion and institutional deficiencies.

Cees Donkers.  2012.  Eindhoven, ‘City as a Lab’ ‘Brain-field’ for a New Generation.  In ISOCARP REVIEW 2012, p. 186-213.   Unashamedly written almost as a blog, and very visual, showing how exchange of urban ideas has adapted to the electronic media, for the younger generation in particular.

Helena Freino.  2012.  Rekonstrukcja Miasta. Co to Oznacza? (Reconstruction of City. What Does it Mean?. Space and Form 17. Polish Academy of Science/Gdansk Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin.  A precise and insightful reconstruction of the process of mutual learning and success in Barcelona and Bilbao.

Malgorzata Hanzl.  2012.  Schizoanalytical Digital Modelling for Urban Design.  In Proceedings, 30th International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe, Prague, 177-187.  An intriguing and forward looking paper about the interaction of human nature and the built environment incorporating key methodologies into an anthropological analysis of urban structures.

Hueng Wing, John Kwong, 2012.  MARINAS.  Dalian, China:  Dalian University of Technology Press Co, LTD.  A well-structured and practice-oriented “cooking book” for planning marinas.   The book is well designed and contains an accessible graphic language that enables accessibility for planning practitioners.

Aleksandra Stupar.  2012.  City Vs. Global Challenges:  Shaping a Beauty or a Beast?  In R. Bogdanovic (ed).  New Urbanity:  Cities vs. Global Challenges, International Symposium on Sustainable Development and Planning – Proceedings, STRAND. Belgrade.  1-10.   An excellently crafted global view of how contemporary sustainable regeneration principles (or ideologies) have been taken up in cities throughout the world.

Jury Members:
David Prosperi, USA (Chair)
Terry Byrnes, Australia
Madina Junussova, Khazakhstan
Judith Ryser, United Kingdom
Andreas Schneider, Switzerland