Cities and Regions: Planning for Change

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The so-called "urban age" is not only characterised by unprecedented levels of urbanisation, but also by levels of inequality unseen since the early 1900s, and uprisings of unprecedented scale and intensity. In this context, many have argued that planning is central to the production of urban injustice. Planning is no longer seen as an objective tool for social, spatial, and economic organisation, but for the strategic spatialisation of capital accumulation and the exclusion of the urban majority. Yet the relationship between planning and urban (in)justice is not so simple. Over the course of history, a variety of initiatives, movements and coalitions have emerged, some seeking to influence the production of places, and others seeking to exert influence on the broader institutional frameworks through which processes of urbanisation are planned. Planning retains potential for our search for fairer cities, and it is important to understand how planning for change emerges in different forms, how planning for change is negotiated, and the impacts they can have on our urban futures.