The pre- and post-pandemic crises of climate breakdown, growing inequalities, democratic deficits and declining public services have created an absence of hope for the future and a creeping pessimism about the ability of planning to be a force for good and imagine places that do not yet exist. In response to the Conference’s call for “rethinking planning theories, practices, and education”, I propose an alternative mode of planning which I call prefigurative planning defined as a collective process of negating the given, envisioning utopias, and performing the not-yet future in the here and now. By drawing on concepts of prefiguration, the not-yet, hope, and concrete utopia, I discuss how a new way of utopian thinking can help us to see the existing conditions not as how things are, but as how they are made to be, and how they might be unmade. I unpack how prefigurative planning differs from traditional utopian planning, emphasizing that prefiguration is not about how to ‘build that city on the hill’, but how not to give up the pursuit of ‘better’ cities by combining criticality with planning imagination. For planning education, this means focusing not only on problem-solving, but also on ‘problem-posing’ and questioning, for example, how, for whom, and for what the NextGenerationEU funding is being spent.

*Based on Davoudi S. (2023) Prefigurative Planning: Performing concrete utopias in the here and now, European Planning Studies, 31(11): 2277-2290

Urban climate action is increasingly recognized as central for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, in the broad context of sustainable development. There are consistent gaps to bridge, in order to enable urgent action at scale for cities globally. National climate policies, as the Nationally Determined Contributions, are currently including urban provisions only in limited manner. At the same time, globally cities are increasingly developing, and partially implementing, local climate plans. For example, Denmark is the first country where all cities have developed local climate plans for climate adaptation and mitigation. This contribution will showcase the results of the latest analysis of the urban content of the Nationally Determined Contribution [1,2], and the analysis of the local climate plans developed by the cities in the Region of Southern Denmark [3]. These research results allow to highlight some key knowledge gaps, barriers and synergies, at national and at local level; spanning from the harmonization of national climate policies with urban climate action, to the integration of mitigation and adaptation within local climate plans. Key principles for urban climate planning will be presented and discussed, showcasing how the planning process and practice will require a shift to properly and timely respond to climate change, as a global challenge. These key principles are routed in an urban resilience framework that integrates disaster risk reduction, climate change (adaptation and mitigation), and urban development, in the wider context of sustainable development. Final considerations on capacity building needs and opportunities will be discussed, to guide the re-definition planning education and lifelong learning.

[1] Tollin, N., Vener, J., Pizzorni, M., Gázquez, A. S., Gragnani, P., Manez, M., Brunetta, G., Caldarice, O., Morato, J., Grafakos, S., Simon, D. & Matsumoto, T. (2023), Urban Climate Action. The urban content of the NDCs: Global review 2022. Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat https://unhabitat.org/urban-climate-action-the-urban-content-of-the-ndcs-global-review-2022
[2] Ranalder, L., Gasser Hidalgo, L., Jones-Langley J., Verner J., Tollin, N., Local Action for Global Goals: An Opportunity for Enhancing Nationally Determined Contributions. (2024). Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat https://unhabitat.org/local-action-for-global-goals-an-opportunity-for-enhancing-nationally-determined-contributions
[3] Tollin, N., Lehmann, M., Attombri, C., Wyke, S., Skou Grindsted, T., Deeg, A. B., Pizzorni, M., & Mc Kay Boyle, P. (2023). Empowering Local Climate Action: Preliminary Analysis of Municipal Action Plans in the Region of Southern Denmark. Vejle: Region of Southern Denmark https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/files/251994867/Empowering_Local_Climate_Action_2.pdf

For urban planners the relationship between land use and transport has been long known and established. The work of Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy in their 1996 paper in Land Use Policy entitled The land use transport connection – an overview was one of the first I encountered which highlighted this relationship so well. Land use and transport are indeed mutually dependent and dynamic, and the relationship is a long term one. Hence why the need for planning! Unfortunately, in some contexts this relationship is dismissed and is replaced by “functional isolation” where projects, especially infrastructure ones are constructed independently from the urban context and with little or ineffective long term planning. This approach has created disconnected urban environments, favoured car dependence, limited community development and created sterile environments with low levels of liveability. With increased climate impacts and the requirements on many cities to decarbonise and adapt (to climate change), the need to adopt resilience has become critical. But how are cities building in resilience, especially within and around transport infrastructures, which are critical for liveability and economic sustainability? I discuss some examples of Malta’s recovery and resilience plans and how the rhetoric might not be translating into the necessary infrastructure for dealing with climate change impacts, through for example, adaptation. Neither are the planning structures in place to ensure land use and transport planning go hand in hand to promote and build-in long term urban resilience. Investments such as those promised in the EU Green Deal are significant. The question is whether the large investments in the current plans will help us deliver the resilience which is required for cities to be truly prepared and future-proof.