Foreword

The complexity and interconnectedness of the urban challenges of today demand integrated and innovative approaches to the planning and design of sustainable, fair, and inclusive cities and regions. This, in turn, requires us to challenge and rethink current planning practice and education. Future generations of planners and designers need...

Four Clusters o fThought on Flood Resilience and Climate Adaptation: The state of the art and new directions for spatial planning

The need to respond to increasing flood risk, climate change, and rapid urban development has shaped innovative policies and practices of spatial planning in many countries over recent decades. As an instrumental–technical intervention, planning is mainly used to improve the physical environment (through concepts such as regulating waterproof...

Multi-Level and Multi-Actor Governance: Why it matters for spatial planning

This chapter sheds light on how planning is affected by multi-level (vertical) governance relations that shape an enabling environment for planning decisions and multi-actor (horizontal) governance aspects which are crucial for integrating planning with other policy agendas and effectively engaging citizens and other stakeholders in decision...

2 Regional Variation in EU Identification in the Southern and Eastern Peripheries of Europe: Does Cohesion Policy Matter?

EU cohesion policy, supporting a variety of projects that support regional economic development and contribute to betterment of quality of life, can be considered as a tool that is contributing to the development of a ‘sense of community’ among the EU citizens and shaping the perceptions of the EU. By investing in projects across the European...

Spatial Planning for Climate Adaptation and Flood Risk: Development of the Sponge City Program in Guangzhou

Many Chinese cities are increasingly exposed to the impacts of climate change, particularly to flooding. The National Sponge City Program was set up to address this challenge. This chapter examines how municipal interventions in spatial planning have been formulated in response to this national program. The case of Guangzhou is examined, a mega...