Intelligence, resilience, key components of future cities: Urban economy official

Dr. Hossein Mohammadpour Zarandi, the president of Iran Urban Economics Scientific Association (IUESA) and advisor of City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) made the remarks while addressing a national gathering on improving urban management systems.

The first national conference on improvement in urban management systems was held in Tehran on Wednesday.
In his lecture titled “change leadership and redesigning processes in city management,” the official pointed that presently, this is a time of evolution where the world is changing and organizations should always be prepared for changes to manage current sudden changes.

Any organization should respond to these changes and various demands of inside and surrounding environment since change process is different depending on its conditions, entity, leadership style, behaviors, values, and attitudes, said the official.

Noting that cities are one of the dynamic systems that changes constantly, he said passing from preindustrial to industrial and information city is one of the examples of changes in urban system. Various concepts of cities including sustainable, green, smart accountable, and open city indicates inherent dynamism of city.

Emphasizing that moving toward these types of cities is based on change, he further said a smart city tries to change itself, its elements, its management and citizens intellectually and functionally.

Highlighting the importance of change leadership in cities, he added cities are open and dynamic systems that their elements are changing continuously. The balance of city system is a task done by city managers through changing attitudes and policies.

Saying that change in cities should be based on future-oriented approach, he said tomorrows’ balanced cities are those that use resources and infrastructures optimally in order to meet citizens’ current and future needs efficiently.

Referring to the component of resistance against change in cities, Dr. Poorzarandi said since cities that different social, economic, and cultural groups with their various interests gather in it, they are resistant against changes.

Some city management systems are successful in this issue and they change it to an opportunity for creativity and innovation while others fail, he said.

Emphasizing on concepts such as city resilience tries to minimize disruption in social, economic, managerial, and institutional systems during change; he said the concept of “resilient cities” has been proposed in this regard and cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary are the most resilient cities in the world.

He urged city managers to make cities of tomorrow resilient and diverse.

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