10 Things Designers Need to Work on

The 10 considerations are based on Christian Werthmann’s five year investigation of numerous small and large scale improvement projects in Latin America as wells as the outcome of two symposia titled “Metropolis Nonformal” curated by Werthmann (held in 2011 and 2013). During this study it became clear that the current training of designers and planners is inadequate to address the diverse and different universe of nonformal urbanism and the key paradigms for education have to be formulated.Christian Werthmann from Leibniz University, Hannover, summarizes his international experience of non-formal urbanism into ten points aimed to act as a guideline for designers intending to work in these contexts. Based on real life experiences and research he describes what is essential to keep in mind when designing towards sustainable urbanization in dense urban environments. This lecture was filmed in association to the Metropolis Nonformal – Anticipation symposium in Munich 2013 including the launch of the Laufen Manifesto for a Humane Design Culture.Christian Werthmann is a Professor at the Institute of Landscape Architecture, Leibniz University Hannover. Werthmann researches the implementation of ecological infrastructure in emerging cities, a line of research that he initiated as an Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His most recent research is concerned with landscape strategies for post-disaster reconstruction in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and anticipatory urbanization strategies for the landslide prone hills of Medellin (Colombia).