Transforming Urban Governance in a Post-Pandemic World - The "New Normal"in Planning and Participation

Beskrivelse

The world is facing unprecedented risks. In just a few weeks, the Covid-19 pandemic has swept across the world and caused tremendous human tragedy and a historical economic setback for which we still do not know the full impact. The pandemic has also given rise to the notion of an emerging “new normal”, reflecting changes in attitudes and behaviours. The pandemic has also propelled cities and citizens through a decade of digital transformation overnight. Cities across Europe and the world are now facing a common challenge in planning for a deeply uncertain future to deliver carbon neutrality whilst transitioning towards the post-pandemic “new-normal”. Both climate emergency and Covid-19 have thrown into sharp relief the limitations of urban governance, demonstrating the urgency for new solutions, given EU commitments to define decarbonization pathways for cities by 2050.

Transforming and revising the priorities and the substantive goals of planning as well as the silos-thinking and the disciplinary divides, are issues once again up for discussion in relation to governance and participation across local and international scales. New models of cities are taking form in the mind of urban experts to deal with the ‘new normal’. However, inclusive future responsible citizenship require new types of professionals, that not just think and apply innovative models but also mediate and negotiate power ethics for a just and sustainable urban future. In order to transform urban democracy for more sustainable cities and communities, it is important to question the role research can play to cross borders of representative democracy and disciplinary divides and to recreate alliances for deliberative democracy in our future urban world.

The pandemic has taught everyone that early actions are necessary to deal with unexpected events. But unforeseen consequences are impossible to prevent in ‘the risk society’. Planning as ‘to think in action’ might need to revise its substance, but also the processes in situations of climate change and biodiversity loss. Future governance models depend largely on our understanding of how the ‘new normal’ means not just to contrast, but to adapt and learn on how to navigate persisting challenges. These challenges require an inclusive urban democracy as participation will be essential to develop future forms of governance for societal harmony and solidarity. The pandemic reminds all of us that societal change can be fast, even occur overnight and that events can accelerate transition processes. The ambition to build an urban harmonious society requires a new planning orientation to understand participatory processes based on human capabilities, and, beyond social distances to join forces to act upon common issues of health, climate and ecological crisis over the sense of (un)safety and (un)security for the future.

The aim of the UERA Conference 2021 is to advance new urban participatory planning and governance perspectives and strategies for Europe’s city-regions, generating a debate on challenges and opportunities in the context of the “new normal”, promoting potential pathways for EU’s spatial policy by scrutinizing critical aspects. Emerging lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic will provide a forum for partnership and consolidation of collaboration for the upcoming Horizon Europe calls and future Urban Europe policy.

The UERA Conference aims to promote diverse approaches to the understanding and framing of problems generated from experience of the pandemic in cities, and to address the transformation of paradigms of participation, collaboration, governance, creation of urban commons, in order to rethink urban research alliances for urban governance and participation.

The Conference invites scholars, researchers and practitioners to engage with issues related to citizens engagement, participation and governance in a post-pandemic era. The Conference will highlight frameworks and case studies of large and small cities across the EU and globally, and promote networks of peer-to-peer-cities, institutions and laboratories operating across topics including the green transition, the digital transformation, stimulating economies and creating jobs, dealing with conflicts and co-producing welfare.

Periode	20 okt. 2021 → 22 okt. 2021
Begivenhedstype	Konference
Placering	Aalborg, DanmarkVis på kort