1      THE GLOBAL VIEW: Climate Change Impacts, Sustainability and Resilience

• Climate change and towns, cities and regions – how are, and will, they be affected?
• Climate change scale and pace – which narrative should planners take as credible – the optimistic view that ‘we still have enough time to mitigate and adapt’, or the pessimistic view that ‘we must declare a global emergency’?
• Sustainability/mitigation vs resilience/adaptation agendas – what are the corresponding urban planning paradigms, and which one do we prioritise?
• The role of national, state, regional and local authorities – what is it, and what does that mean for statutory planning?
• Climate change-induced migrations and climate refugees – how do we plan for them?
• The future of planning – is it turning into disaster and risk management?

 

     2      SPOTLIGHT CITIES: Planning for Coastal Cities, Remote Towns, and High North Cities

• The impacts – what are the main categories of actual and expected impacts?
• The risks – what locations and types of urban areas are particularly at risk?
• Coastal towns and cities – adaptive strategies?
• Towns and cities in remote/rural/mountainous areas – adaptive strategies?
• Towns and cities in and near the Arctic Circle – adaptive strategies?
• Urban size, form, location and site: what makes a place more sustainable and resilient?

 

    3      CLIMATE-PROOF CITIES: Planning for Weather, Water, Food and Energy

• Towns and cities in hot and arid areas – adaptive strategies?
• Towns and cities in hot and humid areas – adaptive strategies?
• Towns and cities in moderate climates – adaptive strategies?
• Towns and cities in cold climates – adaptive strategies?
• Green infrastructure, ecosystem services, storm-water management
• Urban agriculture: how to integrate food, fiber, fuel production?
• Energy conservation, generation, storage and distribution
• Risk management, climate-induced disaster response, recovery and rebuilding

 

    4      TECHNOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE: Clean, Green, Smart and Resilient

• How does the ‘urban technology nexus’ (IT, CT, ET, TT, BT) affect urban metabolism?
• Infrastructure systems: how do we reinvent the concept and the configurations?
• ICT and the ‘smart city’; ‘sentient city; ‘wise city’; ‘green intelligence’
• Disaster preparedness and ‘smart resilience’
• The future of transport technology and infrastructure
• The future of energy technology and infrastructure
• The future of building and construction technology
• Urban form, urban flows and the design for smart, adaptable spaces
• What are the economic opportunities in technological innovation for sustainability and resilience?

 

    5      SOCIAL NETWORKS: Citizen Participation, Urban Governance and Cultural Transformation

• How will climate change affect citizen participation and local democracy?
• Governance, management, administration and planning systems
• Social networks, collaboration and the role of ICT
• Citizens’ beliefs, attitudes and behavior, green lifestyles, local politics and culture
• The role of race, age and gender issues in planning for climate change
• Sustainability and resilience in urban tourism

 

    6      CONTEMPORARY PLANNING PRACTICE: Projects and Paradigms

• Demographic, social, cultural, political, economic, technological change: which forces are driving the transformation of planning practice today?
• Disruption, experimentation, innovation and creativity in planning: should they be part of local government planning. Or, the official planning should rather ‘play it safe’ in an unsafe world?
• New economic paradigms and the city (ecological; steady-state; circular; shared; people-centered; knowledge; creative – economy): how do we plan for their spatial consequences?
• Examples and models: large scale public and private projects world-wide;
• Master planning and urban design: case studies world-wide.
• Buildings, infrastructure and property development: new energy, water, waste, safety and security standards.