Since Leibniz, the conceptual construct of โpossible worldsโ has been widely used to understand what is thinkable, necessary, or contingent. The creation of alternate versions of reality is particularly important for whoever has to test and evaluate different choices, events and natural laws that might exist, so as to examine moral dilemmas and metaphysical questions before putting them into...
The increasing emphasis on participatory planning processes has highlighted the importance of communicative approaches to engage stakeholders (Hajer & Zonneveld, 2000). Within this context, planning theorists have underscored the value of storytelling, both as a tool for and an outcome of planning (see Van Hulst, 2012). This โnarrative turnโ in spatial planning (Ameel et al., 2023) shifts...
Cities and urban spaces worldwide and in South Africa are changing rapidly. New challenges confront planners in dealing with these changes in ways that will consider the future well-being of the planet and its people. Cities, precincts and public spaces need to adapt and transform to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation, densification, climate change, social conflict, exclusion, and...
Prisons are a space of contemporary periphery neglected and stigmatised in many parts of the world and, in particular, in southern Europe and Italy (Vessella, 2017). Prison architectures are 'introverted' structures (Milhaud, 2017; Moran et Al., 2017); they are often situated in the middle of nowhere and isolated from infrastructural networks and urban and social metabolisms (Infussi, 2020)....
The research discusses storytelling as an effective method for strategy development in hybrid landscapes. These areas often involve diverse actors, conflicting interests, and differing perspectives. By integrating narrative methods, storytelling can promote a shared understanding, strengthen strategic visions, and foster creative thinking to imagine alternative futures. It simplifies complex...
In the last four decades and especially during the 21st century we observe a strong interest in discourses, strategies and norms regarding the form and functions of urban areas in a sustainable way (Michalina and al, 2021). Even though in documents of international organizations, such as the Agenda 2030, there is a strong commitment for the equal growth of urban areas despite their economic...
In the contemporary global context, the intensifying climate, environmental, and social crises, combined with unsustainable and linear development models, raise pressing questions about the transformative role of territorial planning. Historically, planning has predominantly been focused on managing urban growth and facilitating spatial expansion, aligning with the dominant economic frameworks...
For planning, and planners, a long-standing tension persists between technocratic governance and advocacy for the right to the city (Tasan-Kok et al., 2016). While planning power traditionally manifests through practical tools and legal instruments, its true influence often lies in the pre-implementation stages through narratives and visioning that shape urban futures. This dynamic becomes...
The concept of โtipping pointsโ has been influential in the literature on the climate crisis. The earliest mention of the metaphor โtipping pointโ was found in studies on racial segregation, where it referred to the factors that triggered the swift departure of the white majority from neighbourhoods in US cities during the 1950s. In the 2000s the use of the term surged significantly,...
The metropolis is conceptualised through two contrasting paradigms: its attractiveness, stemming from its centrality within the global urban hierarchy, and its multiple crisesโsocio-spatial segregation, environmental degradation, urban service failures, and political fragmentation (Bassand, 2007). In the context of intensified interurban competition, metropolitan attractiveness is contingent...
Population and construction land are the two most critical elements in the urbanization process. Their coordinated development is vital to the level and quality of urbanization. Studying the changes in population and construction land during urbanization is conducive to promoting the rational use of resources and sustainable development. With the increasing domestic and global macroeconomic...
Smart cities are a new paradigm of urban developmental transformation in the 21st Century for cities across the world. There is no universally agreed conceptualization or definition of the notion of Smartness and Smart cities, and cities around the world have developed their operational models of Smartness at the intersection of urban planning, technology-based transformations - primarily...
In the wake of advancements in information and intelligent technologies, urban development has transitioned into an era marked by heightened levels of intelligence and modernisation. Academics are now grappling with two fundamental questions: what will future communities resemble, and how can existing communities be progressively transformed to embody these futuristic ideals? Globally,...
Urban planning is traditionally concerned with envisioning urban futures across different temporal horizons, scales, and value systems. โOfficial imaginariesโ refer to narratives and discourses in policy and planning documents, such as strategic plans, masterplans, and sustainability policies, which shape official discourses directly or indirectly. In urban planning, they reflect dominant...
Since the 2010s, Urban Mega Projects (UMPs) have become the dominant mode of Istanbulโs spatial development, driving expansion into its northern territories. The clustered scheme of UMPs - including the Northern Marmara Highway, Istanbul Airport, Kanal ฤฐstanbul, and New Istanbul - represents not only mega-scale spatial interventions but also an unprecedented transformation in speed, scope, and...
Demographic change, the climate crisis, digitalisation and the change in mobility are among the topics that pose new challenges for local authorities. In particular the rural areas of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate must adapt to changing conditions and develop sustainable development paths. The aim of the research project "Kommune 2050" is to develop a data- and GIS-supported model...
Transformative visons and sustainability foresight are discussed as a key factor of urban capacities for sustainability transformation (Wolfram 2016). It is not only the transition management approach that assumes that, following a systemic analysis of the initial situation, a long-term vision of wellbeing while respecting planetary boundaries is required in order to derive the necessary...
Current megatrends such as urbanization, climate and biodiversity crises, and environmental pollution demand humanity to transform its accustomed ways of operating. Responding to these phenomena requires a sustainability transition and transformative change, through which we move to comprehensively sustainable mode of operation in all areas of society. The extent and depth of these changes...
This contribution lies on a relational understanding of spatial imaginaries as collective understandings of socio-spatial practices produced through political struggles over the conceptions, perceptions and lived experiences of place (Davoudi, 2018). As an expression of power relations, the need to negotiate different and conflicting spatial imaginaries has emerged in recent planning practices...
The paper digs deep into a case, from the perspective of the project-director of actual developments on the former mine-site in Beringen, a medium-sized city in Flanders (Belgium). Description and evaluation of a work-in-progress serve critical reflection and a proposal for an enriched approach.
Kleeโs โAngelus Novusโ captures the inevitable drive of progress, looking into the past, turning...
Spatial planning scholars have long emphasized the need for future-oriented and strategic thinking in planning practice (e.g. Couclelis, 2005). Spatial planning requires a future-oriented approach now more than ever, given the growing challenges of climate change and the transformations needed across multiple sectors to achieve sustainability goals. In this paper, I examine how imaginative...
Where design is often narrowly interpreted as โgiving shape to thingsโ, its potential goes beyond formgiving. This research specifically focuses on the nexus of research, practice, and policymaking in shaping urban futures and the potential of the designerโs role at this intersection of disciplines and scales.
By revisiting key literature of the recent past and examining a range of...
Small and medium-sized towns and cities represent the very important elements of the polycentric urban structure of the European Union. They have a crucial role in regional economic development and social well-being while providing jobs and sustaining local and regional services. Those entities have the possibility to offer good living and working conditions, helping the local community to...
Greening projects have begun to dominate urban planning as a presumed โpublic goodโ initiative, carrying with them a wealth of claims to bolster health, well-being and social cohesion. Yet, such projects are often conceived and implemented without attention to their political contexts, ignoring the power asymmetries and injustices inherent in urban governance and the inevitability of winners...
In recent years, alongside globalization, the population has been rapidly increasing and cities have been evolving accordingly. This phenomenon has led to urban expansion and intensified pressures on urban areas. As cities expand towards the suburbs, examining suburban areas has become more important for the future of cities. Suburbs are generally consumerist, residential settlements where the...
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) is the most significant economic resource plan ever allocated to Italy. However, it was not developed based on a comprehensive assessment of the needs across various sectors. In Rome, this structural deficiency is especially noticeable. Notable gaps include the lack of funding for Roma camps and anti-violence centres, insufficient efforts to...
According to UN-Habitat, over 2 billion people are expected to live in cities worldwide by 2050, which may increase disaster risk from devastating earthquakes and growing threats of floods and landslides, worsened by climate change. This scenario underscores the urgent need for local governments and planning authorities to create inclusive and risk-sensitive urban planning practices that...
In the last years, hybridization (or hybridity) has gained a great momentum in our cities and urban regions. However, hybridization is not a recent phenomenon, and it has been discussed since the 1980s. For example, planning and architecture have seen hybridization as a mixture of spatio-functional features (such as mixed use, multi-functionality and flexibility) and social features (such as...
Traditional urban design approaches typically estimate the flow of rivers traversing urban areas using historical data, which forms the basis for developing spatial proposals. However, climate change's observable and escalating impacts have profoundly challenged and reshaped these conventional methodologies. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and the increasing frequency of...
Central Theme
How can we observe progress in the context of complex, transdisciplinary urban research projects? Each transformative urban development project is embedded in a web of global dynamics, local contexts, and multi-layered funding priorities, making impact monitoring especially challenging. To address this complexity, this contribution proposes an impact-oriented monitoring...
The global narrative towards sustainable urbanism presents unique challenges when applied to the distinct context of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions. Here, the recent push towards sustainable development is met with critical evaluations regarding its impact and practical effectiveness (Al-Badi & AlMubarak, 2019). Gulf cities have been central to discussions on urban development,...
Addressing complex and multifaceted planning problems requires a deep understanding of the diverse perceptions and ideas that stakeholders hold (Healey, 2009; Innes and Booher, 2015). Still, capturing the range and nuance in perspectives, which is necessary for developing transformative actions, remains a difficult endeavor in research and planning processes. Even after the communicative turn...
As cities face growing environmental challenges such as climate change and resource depletion, integrating circular principles into urban systems has become crucial for fostering sustainability and optimizing resource management. This imperative is increasingly advanced through the smart city paradigm, wherein technological innovations are leveraged to enhance the efficiency of circular...
The contemporary planning paradigm emphasises the importance of communication, collaboration, and public participation, reframing planners as facilitators and communities as key stakeholders in decision-making processes. This approach seeks to create equitable inclusive spaces for dialogue among diverse stakeholders, focusing on citizens and communities as central players in shaping spatial...
The challenge of rapidly accelerating low-carbon transitions in citiesโwhile ensuring that these transformations do not exacerbate urban inequalitiesโlies at the heart of the urban just transitions debate in both academia and policy. Climate action must be integrated with equity and justice to ensure that the needs and concerns of underserved communities are central to the transition...
Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, is one of the first smart city models that emerged as an ambitious project, aiming to become the worldโs first carbon-neutral and zero-waste city and seamlessly weave technology into managing its urban fabric. Masdar City aspired to become a tech and economic hub that attracts investors and researchers, and it hoped its sustainability-through-tech mission would inspire...
Recently, a rich literature on urban experimentation has emerged promising it as a feature to address different agendas: it is seen as a relevant, inclusive, practical and challenging initiative that promotes system innovation and initiates structural change; a central concept in the literature on sustainability transitions; a way to foster social learning in a context of uncertainty and...
Exploratory scenario-building processes have proven valuable in addressing uncertainty and complexity in urban and transport systems by creating coherent narratives that capture broad trends at global or national scales (Banister & Hickman, 2013; Tuominen et al., 2014; Melander, 2018). However, a significant challenge lies in bridging these exploratory scenario narratives with spatial and...
Human-nature relations in urban areas are one of the complex topics in planning discourse. Global challenges like climate change and warming and, in general, living qualities in cities for both humans and nature add another layer of uncertainty to future calculations. Changes in human living conditions, besides their significant economic effects, pose a threat to the social-ecological system...
Recent studies underscore a renewed trend toward the re-integration of urban-industrial spaces, particularly emphasizing manufacturing activities (Gornig & Werwatz, 2018; Park, 2023). Scholars highlight that cutting-edge digital technologies are pivotal in enhancing industrial productivity, adopting cleaner and more efficient production techniques, and ultimately fostering the re-integration...
Throughout history, as the concept and form of industry have evolved globally, the spatial configuration of industrial areas has undergone significant changes. Moreover, the approach of the industry toward humans, its modes of production, and the shaping of its spaces have transformed through mutual interactions. Industrial areas, which serve as the driving force behind urban services, the...
Security is a fundamental and universal human need, yet the perception and importance of it continuously evolve alongside societal changes and urban development. As cities grow and become more complex, the factors influencing our sense of security are constantly shifting. In modern urban environments, security is no longer defined solely by the presence of law enforcement or the absence of...
Complex interactions between various actors including state institutions, private enterprises and civic organizations shape the socio-spatial transformation of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This study explores the role of innovation as a transformative force in regional futures within the CEE context. The CEE regionโs transition from socialist economies to market-driven development has led...
Cities facing global warming and economic challenges are exploring various strategies to address these issues. The Circular Economy (CE) offers promising solutions, but the effective integration of its strategy at the urban level remains debated. This research focuses on circular maker spaces that blend new technology with creative industries within the framework of Circular Economy (CE)...
The growing pressures related to urbanization and environmental challenges, including climate change and intensive land use, make attention to underground spaces crucial as a strategic resource for future cities. Usually analyzed in two dimensions, our metropolises are growing in depth without real structured volumetric urban planning: a systematic criterion for analyzing and understanding the...
Accessibility planning has become increasingly interdependent. Early research indicated that accessibility is dependent on both the transport and land use systems. Subsequent literature demonstrated that the telecommunication system also significantly impacts accessibility. Furthermore, it is established that accessibility planning is subject to uncertainties, which are intensified by emerging...
Since the early-2000s there has been a growing scholarly interest in infrastructure as a social scientific object. The social, political, economic and governmental shaping of cities has been identified as occurring through infrastructure. Building on the foundation provided by socio-technical studies of infrastructure geographers and planners have developed extensive insights into how...
Throughout Europe, much of urban development has been guided by a planning culture dependent on the automobile regime and centered on efficiency (Urry, 2004; Mattioli et al., 2020). Car dependent planning has contributed to creating a lock-in; which functions as a barrier to sustainable alternatives (Seto et al., 2016). A more transformative mindset could provide possible pathways to unlock...
In 1997, Amin and Graham reported "a veritable deluge of newspaper and magazine reports now addresses urban crises and 'regeneration' processes", whose descriptions oscillate between gloomy predictions of โurban doom and optimistic portrayals of an urban renaissanceโ (p. 411), often with the aim of obscuring complexities. These insights continue to resonate, reflecting a persistent but...
Urban fragmentation presents a critical challenge for fostering equitable, just, and sustainable urban environments, particularly in cities transitioning from socialist to post-socialist structures. This research focuses on the urban evolution of Tirana, Albania, exploring how spatial, social, and cultural fragmentations, combined with environmental inefficiencies, shape the city's...
This paper situates Nusantara, officially known as Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN), within the discourse of speculative urbanism, highlighting its development complexities and uncertainties. Nusantara, Indonesiaโs ambitious plan to relocate its capital to Borneoโs forests, covers 256,000 hectares and is projected for completion by 2040. While the core government zone is managed by the central...
This research examines the transformative potential of bioregional design in redefining human-non-human connections within the Paphos landscape, focusing on carob and olive habitats as central agents of ecological and cultural transformation. Speculative mapping as the research methodology, contributes to uncovering hidden synergies and connections between human and non-human entities,...
The climate and ecological crises have generated diverse narratives about the planetโs future. Dramatic mitigation and adaptation actions are essential to ensure liveable futures for both humans and the more-than-human world. Scientific assessments, particularly the IPCC reports, provide critical insights into the consequences of action and inaction. The AR6 advances this by combining the...
When it comes to the future of cities, it seems that much is currently shaped by an absolute imperative to act. The future seems to be everywhere, and, fundamentally, at stake (Wallace-Wells 2019). We understand urban future-making to mean purposeful decisions and actions that impact the urban built environment with the aim of engendering transformative change. The urgency to take far-reaching...
The successive crises of recent years have shaped an environment of uncertainty that tends to constitute a new permanent reality. At the same time, the radical changes that Artificial Intelligence will bring to the entire social process will create a highly competitive economic field. In this new situation, Greek Regions are called upon to transform the methods of developmental policy and to...
In the context of the Pact for the Future, the Paris Agreements, the 2030 Agenda, and the fact that water began trading as a futures commodity on the New York Stock Exchange during the pandemic, numerous concerns arise about how to approach urban issues and inhabitation in a world rapidly transforming technologically. This transformation has reached the point where space tourism is now a...
The conjunctures of technological development, persistent wars, and economic commutation is increasingly outpacing the circulation of humanistic care and various social deconstructions, driving me to the position of post-colonialism and making up a notion that the discipline of urban planning needs to be honest with itself. How far can civic rights and spatial justice be achieved in cities?...
Although urban planning has traditionally revolved around human-centric narratives, emergent discourses highlight the need to incorporate the โmore-than-humanโ dimension into planning arenas. Building on the theoretical framework of relational ontologies, this paper describes an experimental initiative that applies an art-based methodology to a process of citizen engagement focusing on the...
While global crises directly affect planning practices by increasing political, economic, and spatial uncertainties, they also create opportunities to strengthen solidarity and generate new organizational models. Crises not only expose the fragility of existing systems but also underscore the need to rethink and restructure them. In this context, it is critical to examine how the planning...
The concept of a "play-friendly city" has emerged as a significant focus within contemporary urban planning and policy discourse, reflecting an increasing recognition of the pivotal role of play in fostering children's development and overall well-being. While the promotion of spaces that encourage play and physical activity for children has gained broad global endorsement, the practical...
In recent years, several spatial scenario studies and spatial visions have been published in the Netherlands. This article provides an overview of the most significant spatial outlook studies, such as the Spatial Outlook 2023 (PBL 2023), A nature-based future for the Netherlands in 2120 (WUR 2019) and the Deltascenarios (Deltares 2024), as well as metropolitan visions for the regions of...
There is an inherent contradiction in regional planning: โnever before has the necessity for effective regional governance and planning been so greatโ (Soja 2015, p. 379) and yet there are those who argue โregional planning as we know it is now defunct and something we need to get used toโ (Harrison et al 2021, p. 6).
This paper adopts an historical perspective to understand how we arrived...
As much as environmental conditions define the state of cities, cities in turn transform environmental conditions. Through this reciprocal influence, urban settlements become indistinguishable from the climates they generate. The distinction between natural and human-generated environmental conditions further sculpt climatic patterns at local and global scales, breaking down cities...
This paper explores the evolving role of narratives in transformative urban planning, drawing upon interdisciplinary practices and collaborative methodologies. It reflects on innovative frameworks and participatory approaches contributing to equitable and just urban futures.
Interdisciplinary practices that bridge architecture, urban design, history and landscape with participatory...
This paper is based on a compilation of findings emerging from a series of workshops conducted in Osloโs city region and explores the conceptual framing of โresharingโ through residentsโ and practitionersโ framing of future sharing practices, needs for material and physical access and imageries for sustainable consumption of this city region. We define โresharing as a set of practices where...
This research provides critical insights into the origins, development and practices of university-led urban development, which has emerged in the UK in the past two decades, from a rapid expansion of HE institutions and their physical imprint, the campus. Based on a multi-disciplinary review of existing scholarship on university campuses, novel empirical research is presented from case...
In the context of accelerating urbanization and escalating environmental challenges, the concept of the Viability City emerges as a transformative urban ecosystem, envisioned as a living, adaptive, and regenerative organism. Grounded in Hartmut Bosselโs systems thinking and Stefano Mancusoโs ecological philosophy, this model introduces an analytical framework employing a comprehensive set of...
In an age of planetary crises, the urgency for transformative climate action has never been greater. Addressing the complex social, economic and political challenges of the climate crisis necessitates deliberative approaches that engage a diverse array of actors. Such approaches must not only articulate desirable visions for sustainable futures but also identify the governance processes...
