Abstract
Historically, cities have been the powerhouses of economic growth and development, the centres of major social and cultural change, and the sites of rapid movement and change in population. As we move more and more into the twenty-first century, it is clear that cities will continue to be the focus of economic activity, the key spaces of social and cultural interaction and the home for larger and larger urban populations. The first half of the twenty-first century is throwing up major challenges to cities, to their populations, and to those who seek to plan for their development. These challenges include a rapid and rampant process of economic growth and restructuring that often leaves some places as ‘winners’ and others as ‘losers’, the continuing pressures of urbanisation and demographic change, the call for the development of sustainable forms of urban transportation and infrastructure, the need to provide more secure and affordable homes, and the rising tide of local accountability as communities seek greater involvement and participation in local decision-making. A key question to ask is: How do cities, and those who plan for them, respond to these challenges so that urban futures produce fairer and more just places? Equally important is to ask: What are the technological challenges that face urban planners and decision-makers as they search for solutions to complex and multi-faceted urban problems while cities transition from their analogue pasts to their digital futures? What forms of governance and local democracy allow greater degrees of citizen involvement and participation in the making of urban futures? And, what is the role of the state in shaping the policy and political context within which cities can plan for their futures? Addressing these questions is the focus of this chapter, and as such, it will outline and discuss some of the complexities and difficulties of planning in, and for, the twenty-first-century city.
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Notes
- 1.
This paragraph draws on material previously written for Strange (2016b).
- 2.
There are, of course, many issues that could be covered in this discussion. I have chosen those that seem to me to be the most critical issues and those to which planners and planning may have something to contribute in the way of a coherent response.
- 3.
For a more extensive debate about the role of planning in developing city futures in a devolved context, as well as the role of universities in this process see Tewdwr-Jones et al. (2015).
- 4.
The issues raised in this paragraph have been previously considered in Strange (2016a).
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Strange, I. (2018). Urban Planning and City Futures: Planning for Cities in the Twenty-First Century. In: Dastbaz, M., Naudé, W., Manoochehri, J. (eds) Smart Futures, Challenges of Urbanisation, and Social Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74549-7_2
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