Introduction

The International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability addresses all aspects of the urban environment aiming to provide solutions leading towards sustainability. The Sustainable City 2014 conference follows a series of very successful meetings that started in Rio (2000), followed by Segovia (2002), Siena (2004), Tallinn (2006), Skiathos (2008), A Coruña (2010), Ancona (2012) and Kuala Lumpa (2013).

The Conference addresses the multi-disciplinary aspects of urban planning; a result of the increasing size of the cities; the amount of resources and services required and the complexity of modern society.

Most of earth’s population now lives in cities and the process of urbanisation still continues generating many problems deriving from the drift of the population towards them. These problems can be resolved by cities becoming efficient habitats, saving resources in a way that improves the quality and standard of living. The process however, faces a number of major challenges, related to reducing pollution, improving main transportation and infrastructure systems. New urban solutions are required to optimise the use of space and energy resources leading to improvements in the environment, i.e reduction in air, water and soil pollution as well as efficient ways to deal with waste generation. These challenges contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances and require the development of new solutions.

Large cities are probably the most complex mechanisms to manage. However, despite such complexity they represent a fertile ground for architects, engineers, city planners, social and political scientists, and other professionals able to conceive new ideas and time them according to technological advances and human requirements.

The challenge of planning sustainable cities lies in considering their dynamics, the exchange of energy and matter, and the function and maintenance of ordered structures directly or indirectly, supplied and maintained by natural systems.