Renovation, revitalization and transformation of the city in Dutch

Dutch specialist in the development of strategies for urban mixed spaces, Just van den Hoek, will introduce the participants of the 100+ Forum Russia to the methods of urban improvement and examples of modern Chinese urbanization.

Thanks to the large-scale urbanization processes in China, the country has become the world's leading strategy laboratory and sets benchmarks for urban development. Mr. van den Hoek will talk about the practice of urbanization in China using vivid examples of his recent work: the Internet city of Guangzhou-Tianhe, the reconstruction of the Wuhu shipyards and the Xin Hua Pudong embankment in Shanghai. He will talk in detail about the significance of these projects for other countries and their role in the conditions of future centuries.

Mr. van den Hoek notes that the processes of urban renovation or transformation are common and are now taking place in all cities of the world, in Europe and Asia, in Amsterdam and Shanghai. "When creating comfortable and densely populated cities, it is very important that a balance for life, work and recreation is achieved on the scale of neighborhoods and districts. However, in many Western and Asian cities, we see that factories and production facilities that lead to environmental pollution or generate low economic profits are being moved outside the city. In most Western and Asian cities, such jobs have been replaced by the service industry, which is located in office skyscrapers, shopping malls and hotel buildings," the expert adds.

Now a professional urban planner and researcher, he heads the Chinese-Dutch design firm NITA Design Group in Shanghai. Before moving to Shanghai, he participated in many Dutch key projects, such as the Amsterdam Zuidas – a green area in the south of Amsterdam, the Almere business district, the Arena Boulevard, Hartvan Zuid Hengelo and others. For seven years, he worked as the chief designer of the Roombeek Enschede district, which became a prime example of organic urban growth and received the European Urban and Regional Planning Awards in 2008.

NITA Design Group is a large design consulting institute with headquarters in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Shanghai (China). NITA brings together professionals and experts in the fields of planning, landscape, architecture, transport, energy and ecology.

Developments and innovations in the field of urban design and urban renewal, landscape environment and green architecture, exhibition architecture and landscape, engineering consulting and eco-research have won wide recognition from the public.

NITA's works are characterized by the use of Dutch creative

design and green technologies, as well as the integration of Chinese culture into design.