The regenerative city and wealth creation/conservation: the role of urban planning

The existing organisational structure of the city produces economic prosperity but also growing ecological and social entropy, thus generating many kinds of waste. The 'regenerative city' is here proposed as the new paradigm to boost city wealth. The main determinants of city wealth are considered in relation to their contribution to the comprehensive landscape of the city. Circular processes and synergies are considered as key elements to regenerate the city's wealth in its physical space. The paper addresses the multidimensional notion of city wealth. The role of institutional capital is examined for stimulating circular and synergistic processes in city organisation. Urban planning is proposed as a fundamental tool for reducing the widespread entropy and for implementing a new circular economic model in the territory/space and thus for increasing city wealth. A new economy and financial base can be supported through creative urban planning. Innovative planning, geared towards developing a prosperous city requires new and shared choices, based on appropriate evaluation processes.