b'importance of active ageing. Its wholistic approachThe Master of Urban Development & Design was includes physical environment guidelines for housing,conceived in 1994-5 as the kind of program that could transportation, outdoor spaces and buildings (WHOaddress contemporary issues from a multidisciplinary 2007). The membership network of cities/municipalitiesperspective and with an international focus. The has grown from 33 in 2007 to 1000 in 41 countriesinitial collaboration between senior academics from covering over 250 million people today (WHO 2020)architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture indicating that population ageing is becoming a seriousand construction in the design of the program was consideration in urban development, design andintended to set the stage for this. Unlike many other governance.post-graduate urban design programs with access limited to architecture graduates, our program The impact of such super-ageing (i.e. over 25% ofwelcomed a greater multi-disciplinary range. Over the the population 65+) can have other important impacts25 years of the program this has included graduates on cities. Japan, for example, has experiencedfrom architecture, planning, landscape architecture, depopulation since 2008 by over 2 million This has led toengineering, construction, property development, project the shrinking of many of its cities and regional towns andmanagement, urban economics, urban geography, dramatic increases in housing vacancies, abandonment,environmental planning, land resource management, and reduction in property values, thus contributingforestry, law, journalism, fine arts and business on the to local economic stagnation and the need for urbanunderstanding that effective urban development and restructuring (Kubo & Mashita 2020). Similar problemsdesign requires a collaboration among such disciplines. are likely to be faced in other rapidly ageing countriesGiven the challenges of an integrated approach to by mid-century. So, population ageing, an importantaddressing urbanisation, population ageing and climate contributor of urbanisation, can also contribute to urbanchange through urban development and design, this is shrinkage.as true today as when the program was conceived.Climate change is also a critical concern of the 21st century with profound implications for urban development and design. According to UNFCCC (2019)Referencescities account for more than 70% of global CO andGuterres, A. 2019, Speech at the C40 World Mayors Summit, 11 October 2019, Copenhagen, accessed 25/02/2020: https://unfccc.int/news/given over 50% of the worlds population concentratedguterres-cities-are-where-the-climate-battle-will-largely-be-won-or-lostin cities, cities are where the climate battle will largely Kubo, T. & Mashita, M. 2020, Why the rise in urban housing vacancies be won and lost, as UN Secretary Antnio Guterresoccurred and matters in Japan, in: Kubo, T & Yui,Y. (eds) The Rise in stated in his opening address to the 2019 C40 WorldVacant Housing Growth in Post-Growth Japan: housing market, urban Mayors Summit (Guterres 2019). If, according to thepolicy, and revitalizing aging cities, Springer Nature, Singapore, pp. 3-22. Paris Agreement (UN 2015), there is a need to stabiliseUnited Nations [UN] 2015, Paris Agreement, accessed 25/02/2020: https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/global temperature increase at 1.5 degrees Celsius,english_paris_agreement.pdfthere is wide agreement that this will require a 45% United Nations, Department of Economic & Social Affairs [UN] 2018a, reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero emissionsWorld Urbanization Prospects 2018: Highlights, UN, New York.by 2050. City design and development will have a critical United Nations, Department of Economic & Social Affairs [UN] 2018b, role to play in achieving this. Net zero emissions byWorld Population Prospects 2018: Vol. 1 Comprehensive Tables, UN, 2050 will involve stepping up the performance of urbanNew York.buildings, landscape, open spaces, water systems,United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] renewable energy sources, waste management, and2019, UN Climate Change Conference COP 25, 2-13 December 2019, transport infrastructure and will require extensiveMadrid, Spain.cross-disciplinary collaboration. Achieving this goal willWorld Bank Group 2020, Population Living in Slums (% of urban population), World Bank, Washington DC,accessed 25/02/2020: be important to the eco system and to human healthhttps://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.SLUM.UR.ZShttps://data.and wellbeing, including that of the ageing populationworldbank.org/topic/poverty who, along with young children, are most vulnerable toWorld Health Organisation [WHO] 2007, Global Age-friendly Cities: a extreme weather events and associated natural disastersguide, WHO, Geneva.that are predicted to increase in intensity if globalWorld Health Organisation [WHO] 2020,Age-friendly World: about the warming cannot be contained. Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, WHO, Geneva, accessed 25/02/20: https://extranet.who.int/agefriendlyworld/who-network/ 11P1-20200229-FOLIO INTRO.indd 14 2020/3/5 23:45:03'