SI: Climate change integration in urban and regional planning: new perspectives and solutions towards urban sustainability

Increasing urbanization as a global process of socio-urban development seems to be limitless, and climate events are beginning to be a constant in urban societies that were once far removed from this global phenomenon. Climate change is starting to be considered an emergency. We are now faced with new scenarios of urban destruction worldwide, independent of any social, economic, or spatial characteristics, where scales are sometimes exceeded in the eyes of citizens. Often, with extensive losses, urban and peripheral areas destroyed and declared areas of public calamity are among the realities that stakeholders, municipalities, and local and regional governments face. In Europe, these urban scenes are already constantly visible.

•  Why is it important?

In this context, climate change becomes relevant, given its spatiality. As urban and regional planning figures in the organization, distribution, and hierarchization of space, whether on a municipal or regional scale, it is essential to understand what contribution land use planning can currently provide to citizens to mitigate extreme climate factors.

The contemporary age is a time of updating the various land use urban planning legal instruments and how climate change can be integrated into them. Suppose spatial planning regulates social, economic, and even environmental behaviours. In that case, it is necessary to understand new perspectives and solutions that can be developed and implemented towards urban sustainability since the lens of urban planning.

Therefore, the integration of climate change, in addition to being theoretical, must also be practical in planning instruments at urban and regional scales to implement public policies that respond to this global issue. Thus, climate change is included, which must be understood as a driver of urban development due to the new opportunities and perspectives it can generate. Furthermore, a new generation of public policies regarding the legal instruments of planning and city plans that will arrive require innovative, fair, and sustainable visions. Moreover, knowing new futures and their socio-urban impacts supported strengthening urban resilience in the face of the existing and evident climate crisis.

•  The research object and its subtopics

The object of research is the space at municipal and regional scales. You can qualitatively or quantitatively analyze new approaches being developed or implemented or existing case studies with evidence. From the perspective of the planner and the holistic vision of the various specialists, it is essential to delve into new directions in urban/regional planning that can respond to this global problem and the needs of societies faced with this continuous urban risk. Furthermore, because it is a risk not located in time/space, it should increase efficiency in city planning.

From the European spatial context, in the North, the South, and in Scandinavia, what is being done in urban sustainability considering integrating climate change in city planning?

This Special Issue aims to open a debate on the new perspectives, difficulties and solutions from urban planning and city where could be addressed the climate change by its integration towards mitigate the citizen risk. 

In the framework of climate change and urban planning, the following questions can be addressed:

• What will be the new perspectives of urban planning instruments?
• How does spatial planning integrate the dimension of climate change?
• Does urban design point to new mitigation and urban resilience solutions?
• How can the city protect its citizens through urban planning?

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following subtopics such as: public space, urban landscape and infrastructure, spatial planning, urban mobility, urban resilience, urban segregation, climate change.

The aim is to learn about theoretical or practical approaches that can guide, reference, or establish guidelines for integrating climate change into planning instruments for cities and regions.

Key words: Climate change, Land use planning, Urban transformations, Spatial and city planning, Urban sustainability

• Manuscript submission information:
  • Papers must be submitted electronically via the European Journal of Geography (EJG) online submission system.
  • All inquiries should correspond to Prof. Dr.Vasco Barbosa at: arqvascobarbosa@gmail.com
  • Each author of the manuscript has to follow the journal’s Guide for Authors.
  • To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for inclusion in the special issue, it is important to select “ Settings
    Special Issue: Climate change integration in urban and regional planning ” when you reach the “Section” step in the first page of the submission process.
  • Submissions Deadline: 01 November 2024

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Guest editor:

Prof. Dr.Vasco Barbosa, University Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Faculties of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, arqvascobarbosa@gmail.com

^{Bio: Born in Oporto and graduated in Architecture in 2000 at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Oporto, Portugal. Since 2018, he is independent expert of European Commission for spatial and urban planning issues. In 2017 finished a Posdoctoral period of 4 years in Brazil, Portugal and UK, about the application of Space Syntax (from University College London) to urban Planning. Ph.D in Spatial Planning and Territorial Development at the University of Santiago de Compostela, 2013. In 2011 completed a Master in “Management in Sustainable Land Use Planning” in the University of Santiago de Compostela. In 2008 completed a postgraduate degree in “Environmental Management and Land Use Planning” in the Superior Institute of Viana do Castelo. Independent expert of European Commission for Urban Planning issues and member of European Science Foundation. Currently, he is researcher at the University Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo, Portugal and associate researcher in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Current research interests: Urban and rural development; Spatial planning; Land use planning; Space syntax; Urban resilience and inequalities; Architecture, Heritage and landscape; Space Syntax.}

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