Question: Cities are not built by architects, planners or transportation engineers, but by investors and landowners, who articulate their interests to local governments, who then try to balance such interests between investors and citizens.

Cities are not built by architects, planners or transportation engineers, but by investors and landowners, who articulate their interests to local governments, who then try to balance such interests between investors and citizens. Planners just operationalize and moderate the processes, and find compromises between economic, social, ecological and physical city development.

Choosing two cities you are familiar with discuss to what extent you agree or disagree with this notion and examine how, over the next 50 years, your chosen cities will evolve in the future. You should examine this from at least two of the following perspectives:

• Climate change and eco cities;

• Infrastructure and transport;

• Smart cities and technology.