Urban Planning in the Era of Global Uncertainty: Addressing Emerging Challenges and Systemic Risks
Keywords:
Urban Planning, Global Challenges, Climate Change, Urbanisation and Mitigation MeasuresAbstract
Purpose: This paper aims to examine how urban planning responds to pressing contemporary global challenges, including rapid urbanization, climate change, housing shortages, and social inequality. It seeks to identify strategic approaches that enhance sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity in urban development.
Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a qualitative review approach by synthesizing recent scholarly literature and selected international case studies on urban planning practices. Through comparative and thematic analysis, the paper evaluates current planning strategies and emerging policy frameworks addressing global urban issues.
Findings: The findings indicate that integrated planning approaches—combining sustainability principles, climate resilience strategies, and inclusive governance mechanisms—are critical for managing complex urban challenges. Innovative models such as adaptive urban design, participatory planning, and data-driven governance enhance cities’ capacity to respond to environmental and socio-economic uncertainties.
Research implications: This study contributes to contemporary urban planning discourse by emphasizing the need for multidimensional and adaptive planning frameworks. The findings provide theoretical insights for scholars and practical guidance for policymakers seeking to develop future-ready and resilient cities in an era of global transformation.
References
Aalbers, M. B. (2016). The financialization of housing: A political economy approach. Routledge.
Acuto, M., Parnell, S., & Seto, K. C. (2018). Building a global urban science. Nature Sustainability, 1(1), 2–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-017-0013-9
Angel, S., Parent, J., Civco, D. L., & Blei, A. M. (2016). The persistent decline in urban densities: Global and historical evidence of sprawl. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Batty, M. (2018). Digital twins. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 45(5), 817–820. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808318796416
Bibri, S. E. (2019). On the sustainability of smart and smarter cities in the era of big data. Journal of Urban Technology, 26(2), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2018.1454884
Bibri, S. E., & Krogstie, J. (2020). The emerging data-driven smart city and its innovative applied solutions for sustainability. Sustainable Cities and Society, 56, 102079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102079
Calavita, N., & Mallach, A. (2018). Inclusionary housing in international perspective: Affordable housing, social inclusion, and land value recapture. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Caragliu, A., & Del Bo, C. (2019). Smart innovative cities: The impact of smart city policies on urban innovation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 142, 373–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.022
Cobbinah, P. B., Erdiaw-Kwasie, M. O., & Amoateng, P. (2017). Africa’s urbanisation: Implications for sustainable development. Cities, 71, 62–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.08.013
Dehghani, A., Alidadi, M., & Sharifi, A. (2022). Compact development policy and urban resilience: A critical review. Sustainability, 14(19), 11798. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141911798
Deren, L., Wenbo, Y., & Zhenfeng, S. (2021). Smart city based on digital twins. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 65, 101540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2017.07.011
Ewing, R., & Cervero, R. (2017). “Does compact development make people drive less?” The answer is yes. Journal of the American Planning Association, 83(1), 19–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2016.1240044
Fainstein, S. S. (2018). Resilience and justice: Planning for New York City. Urban Geography, 39(8), 1268–1275. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2018.1448571
Fernandez, R., & Aalbers, M. B. (2016). Financialization and housing: Between globalization and varieties of capitalism. Competition & Change, 20(2), 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1024529415623916
Frantzeskaki, N., Borgström, S., Gorissen, L., Egermann, M., & Ehnert, F. (2019). Nature-based solutions for urban climate adaptation. Ambio, 48(10), 1125–1137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-018-1097-9
García‑Blanco, G., Navarro, D., & Feliu, E. (2023). Adopting resilience thinking through nature‑based solutions within urban planning: A case study in the City of València. Buildings, 13(5), 1317. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13051317
Kabisch, N., Korn, H., Stadler, J., & Bonn, A. (2017). Nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation in urban areas. Springer.
Kitchin, R. (2016). The ethics of smart cities and urban science. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 374(2083), 20160115. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2016.0115
Kummitha, R. K. R., & Crutzen, N. (2017). How do we understand smart cities? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 124, 198–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.06.010
Lopez, L. J. R., & Grijalba Castro, A. I. (2025). Integrating smart city technologies and urban resilience: A systematic review and research agenda for urban planning and design. Applied Sciences, 9(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9010002
Lucas, K. (2019). A new evolution for transport-related social exclusion research? Journal of Transport Geography, 81, 102529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102529
Mahabir, R., Crooks, A., Croitoru, A., & Agouris, P. (2016). The study of slums as social and physical constructs. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 59, 138–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2016.07.002
Meerow, S., & Newell, J. P. (2019). Urban resilience for whom, what, when, where, and why? Urban Geography, 40(3), 309–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2016.1206395
Revi, A., Satterthwaite, D., Aragón-Durand, F., Corfee-Morlot, J., Kiunsi, R., Pelling, M., Roberts, D., & Solecki, W. (2014). Towards transformative adaptation in cities. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 13, 133–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2014.07.005
Rolnik, R. (2019). Urban warfare: Housing under the empire of finance. Verso.
Rosenzweig, C., Solecki, W., Romero-Lankao, P., Mehrotra, S., Dhakal, S., & Bowman, T. (2018). Climate change and cities: Second assessment report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network. Cambridge University Press.
Sadowski, J. (2020). Too smart: How digital capitalism is extracting data, controlling our lives, and taking over the world. MIT Press.
Scanlon, K., Fernández Arrigoitia, M., & Whitehead, C. (2015). Social housing in Europe. European Policy Analysis, 17, 1–12.
Seto, K. C., Golden, J. S., Alberti, M., & Turner, B. L. (2016). Sustainability in an urbanizing planet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(34), 8935–8938. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1606037114
Sharifi, A. (2016). From garden city to eco-urbanism: The quest for sustainable neighborhood development. Sustainable Cities and Society, 20, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2015.09.002
Van Zoonen, L. (2016). Privacy concerns in smart cities. Government Information Quarterly, 33(3), 472–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2016.04.004
Wetzstein, S. (2017). The global urban housing affordability crisis. Urban Studies, 54(14), 3159–3177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017711649
Zarei, M., & Shahab, S. (2025). Nature‑based solutions in urban green infrastructure: A systematic review of success factors and implementation challenges. Land, 14(4), 818. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14040818
Zhao, L., Oppenheimer, M., Zhu, Q., Baldwin, J., Ebi, K., Bou-Zeid, E., ... & Liu, X. (2018). Interactions between urban heat islands and heat waves. Nature Climate Change, 8(9), 799–803. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0252-9
