Audi 2010 Annual Report Download - page 70

Rubrik
O
n August 25, 2010, AUDI AG presented the
fi rst Audi Urban Future Award in Venice –
with a 100,000 euro endowment, this is the
most lucrative German architecture prize.
It will be awarded every second year. The Scuola Grande
di Santa Maria della Misericordia, a Venetian palace dating
back to the 16th century, provided a festive backdrop for
the award ceremony. In the palace’s large ballroom, fi ve
international teams of architects presented their visions
of megacities with over ten million inhabitants in the year
2030. Pragmatic carmaker and architectural utopias – two
very diff erent worlds. At least that’s what you might think.
But as a maker of premium cars, Audi has good reason to
concern itself with the future of megacities.
More than half of the world’s population already lives in
cities. By 2050 it could be three-quarters of all humanity.
While the former metropolis of Venice has been shrinking
for many years, more and more urban centers containing
over ten million inhabitants are developing all over the
world. In 2015, there will be an estimated 26 megacities.
Populations and traffi c volumes are growing at a particularly
rapid pace in China and India. One example is Mumbai,
which had 20 million residents in the past year, and
according to a forecast by the United Nations will grow to
almost 26 million residents by 2025. Cars already creep
through the city at a snail’s pace during rush hour. And the
demand of the growing middle class for individual mobility
Alison Brooks
The native Canadian founded
her offi ce in London in 1996
after having worked at Ron
Arad Associates. Alison Brooks
builds hotels, apartment
houses, public buildings and
urban development projects.
She teaches Urban Design
& Housing at London’s
Architectural Association. One
of her most famous buildings
is the Quarterhouse cultural
center in Folkestone.
AB Architects,
London
Bjarke Ingels’ vision:
The accident-free city thanks to
networking of all road-users.
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