A critical discourse on the influence of the Modern Movement in urban design and planning has been taking place since the mid-20th century, accompanied by an ongoing search for opportunities to bring the human dimension, scale and self-organisation into this process. However, still a large number of new towns have been built across Asia and Africa, generally following modernistic urban concepts. This research contributes to the afore-mentioned discussion, exploring the context of urbanisation in Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s, in many ways similar to the context of current new town developments in Asia and Africa. To address the meeting point of the ideas of the Modern Movement and self-organisation, the study examines two case-studies in Venezuela, a country which urbanized rapidly after the discovery of oil in the 1920s. The oil revenues made it possible to build new towns, on a large scale, with modernist ideals.

The analysis of the planning and implementation of the two new towns built in Venezuela in the 1950s and 1960s provides important lessons that can be shared to improve the current practice of new town planning. The main lessons emphasize the importance of integrating the needs and wishes of the residents, and to get the commitment of the authorities. More importantly, the results show the opportunities of the aided self-help housing policy, an effective alternative beyond the habitual use of modernistic ideas and concepts.
@en

De bouwsector is een projectensector: van woningbouw tot gebiedsontwikkeling, we organiseren onze activiteiten in projecten. Die projectstructuur blijkt – zowel in de praktijk als volgens de theorie – het structureel leren niet eenvoudig te maken. Voor vernieuwing in de bouwsector wordt leren echter als belangrijk en essentieel gezien. Enerzijds omdat zo het wiel niet steeds opnieuw wordt uitgevonden en er aandacht kan zijn voor innovatie. Anderzijds omdat het eenvoudigweg efficiënter werkt als je eerdere ervaringen mee kunt nemen. In deze handreiking kijken we naar hoe het leren in project georiënteerde organisaties in de bouw verbeterd kan worden. Dat is relevant voor publieke en semipublieke opdrachtgevers, zoals gemeenten, corporaties en waterschappen, maar zeker ook in het private domein, waaronder het bouwbedrijfsleven. Deze publicatie is gebaseerd op eerder onderzoek van de TU Delft (prof.dr.ir. Marleen Hermans, ir. Lizet Kuitert, dr.ir. Leentje Volkert) en de VU Amsterdam (prof.dr. Alfons van Marrewijk, Thijs Willems (MSc)).@en

Municipalities account for a considerable share in the total production of construction work in the Netherlands. Through their commissioning role, public entities can act as a ‘launching customer’ for innovation. New procurement schemes have been and are being installed to improve quality and productivity, reduce risks and enhance sustainability within the industry. The effective application of these schemes requires a professional commissioning organisation, able to consistently adopt and further develop these new schemes. A clear organisational structure and aligned working processes are prerequisite to establish efficiency, effectivity, knowledge management and organisational learning. A qualitative research project investigated the governance structure and embedding of the commissioning role in Dutch municipalities. 18 municipalities were investigated through structured interviews and additional document analysis. The research elucidates the shattering of the commissioning role over the municipal organisation, with limited alignment of processes between entities involved and hybrid organisation structure and governance issued by municipalities show substantial variation and hybridity within the municipal
organisations. The allocation of administrative responsibility for complex is not
clear-cut, varying with the distribution of political responsibility for related policy
areas between various aldermen. Although differences exist between larger and
smaller municipalities, overall findings are similar. The fragmentation level found,
can be expected to hamper possibilities for organisational learning and improving
professionalism. To improve these possibilities, preconditions for knowledge
management and organisational learning should be strengthened, starting with
stimulating the awareness of the relevance of commissioning role.@en

Ciudad Guayana was born as an industrial new town in the early 1960s, as an ambitious national effort to stimulate the regional development of Venezuela. Its planning was the fruit of a unique partnership between the Venezuelan development agency (CVG) and the Joint Center for Urban Studies from Harvard University and the MIT. Looking for answers to the rapid urbanization issues, the academic planners were willing to test the latest planning and design approaches on the field, implementing several experimental projects. Ciudad Guayana became a useful urban laboratory that provided important urban lessons. Based on literature research, archival research at MIT and Harvard, and interviews with planners working on both teams, this paper presents how the two teams approached, debated and clashed about four significant challenges of building the new town. Ciudad Guayana provided important urban lessons, useful for similar kind of new towns and satellite cities, as the ones currently emerging in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

@en