PARADIGMS FOR SHAPING URBAN DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPES IN THE WORLD – A DIAGNOSIS OF THEIR FOCUS AND CHARACTERISTICS

Cities are centers of knowledge and sources of growth and innovation and possess exceptional possibilities for economic development. At the same time, however, the cities undergo certain transformation due to urbanization and thus need to face the urban development challenges. The paper discusses briefly on the paradigms (independent or multiple paradigms) the cities adopt and in over the years how there has been a paradigm shift that address the urban development issues. The paradigm shift has been analyzed based on extensive literature review of significant paradigms that have been implemented in several cities in the world in the last decades. An extensive study has summed up the tools for analysis- selected parameters and characteristics of numerous urban development paradigms.