Open research questions in Urban Planning and Governance

What the literature leaves open

• Conflicting purposes or lack of focus for land banking in a community - The challenge of preserving historic neighborhoods while also providing for future growth - The difficulty of addressing social justice concerns and housing affordability through land banking

  Why Create a Land Bank? A Qualitative Exploration of Four Communities in Missouri · 2026 · DOI

• other states might have unique challenges and processes that are not covered in this paper - the research does not incorporate one other established land bank in the state; in Blue Springs - the sample is limited to four municipalities in the state of Missouri

  Why Create a Land Bank? A Qualitative Exploration of Four Communities in Missouri · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the discussion on archaeology's relevance and impact, particularly in relation to the role of local communities - The author argues that the burden of policymaking should not lie with archaeologists

  Local and community action with global scope: a response to Davies & Lunn-Rockliffe · 2026 · DOI

• Broader discussions on adaptive reuse, provincial modernization, and the production of administrative space beyond capital-centered narratives

  Production, Transformation, and Spatial Organization of Late Ottoman Provincial Municipal Buildings: The Case of the Uluborlu Municipality Mansion · 2026 · DOI

• These frames are not understood as fixed professional or sectoral types, but as situated orientations that may overlap, shift, and become prominent depending on institutional conditions and practice situations.

  Framing place creation: exploring professional roles and practices in inclusive urban transformation contexts · 2026 · DOI

• Although agency has become a central concern in regional studies, the interpretive and emotional dimensions through which individuals understand, narrate and imagine regional change remain underexplored.

  Uncovering Denied Agency and Imaginative Exclusion in Local and Regional Development · 2026 · DOI

• These in-between spaces serve as arenas where contested territories intersect, yet their potential to adapt and transform remains underexplored.

  Navigating contingent transitions: A comparative study of in-between spaces in Belfast and Caracas · 2025 · DOI

• Future research can explore the application of the study's findings in different urban contexts. Further research can investigate the impact of design agencies on neoliberal urbanization processes.

  The City as Design Agency: Integrating Design Thinking with the Political Form of Architecture · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the current understanding of architecture and urban design as merely technical and aesthetic dimensions. The research gap lies in the lack of consideration of architecture and urban design as political tools.

  The City as Design Agency: Integrating Design Thinking with the Political Form of Architecture · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the understanding of the concept of place-framing and its role in urban planning and development. The study highlights the need for further research on the construction of urban image and identity in urban development projects.

  PLACE ‐ FRAMING URBANITY : The Case of Kalasatama, Helsinki · 2026 · DOI

• The study suggests that future research should focus on addressing the limitations of the program. The integration of mobile digital archive technologies is proposed as a potential area of future research.

  Pop-Up Governance: Spatial-Temporal Adaptability of Street-Level Bureaucracy in the Dukcapil on the Street Program in Kuningan Regency · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the literature regarding the spatial-temporal adaptability of street-level bureaucracy. The limitations of structural operational capacity are noted as a gap that must be addressed.

  Pop-Up Governance: Spatial-Temporal Adaptability of Street-Level Bureaucracy in the Dukcapil on the Street Program in Kuningan Regency · 2026 · DOI

• Urban polycrisis, where economic instability, social inequality, environmental stress, and institutional fragmentation intersect and reinforce one another. The need to re-embed economic activity within social, ecological, and democratic values. The limitations of growth- and competitiveness-driven urban strategies.

  Transformative adaptation in times of polycrisis: insights from Milan’s New Urban Economies · 2026 · DOI

• The need to understand how New Urban Economies respond to contradictory conditions through the lens of transformative adaptation. The lack of analysis on the adaptive configurations of New Urban Economies in European cities.

  Transformative adaptation in times of polycrisis: insights from Milan’s New Urban Economies · 2026 · DOI

• Future research may operationalize the framework empirically by examining its implications for sustainability assessment, spatial planning instruments, and governance accountability mechanisms. Future research may explore the application of the Tawhidic Epistemology of Planning framework in other contexts. Future research may investigate the potential for integrating Islamic epistemology with other planning theories.

  TOWARDS A TAWHIDIC EPISTEMOLOGY OF PLANNING: REFRAMING AL-‘ILM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOVERNANCE IN MALAYSIA · 2026 · DOI

• The epistemological foundations of planning theory remain largely implicit. The study identifies a gap in the literature regarding the integration of Islamic epistemology and Western planning theory. The study aims to address this gap through a comparative analysis of Western planning theory and Islamic epistemology.

  TOWARDS A TAWHIDIC EPISTEMOLOGY OF PLANNING: REFRAMING AL-‘ILM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOVERNANCE IN MALAYSIA · 2026 · DOI

• 59. Augsberger, A., Collins, M. E. & Howard, R. C. The global context of youth engagement: a scoping review of youth councils in municipal government. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 156, 107349 (2024). 60. Feitosa, F. O., Wolf, J. H. & Marques, J. L. Operationalizing spatial justice in urban planning: bridging theory with practice. Urban Res. Pract. 17, 720–736 (2024). 61. Toldo, A. & Genova, C. Atmospheric youth practices. Attunement, thickness, and urban affective geographies. Children's Geographies https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2026.2663499 (2026). 62. Wener, R. Parisite Skatepark, New Orleans, Louisiana. In E. L. Chesla (Ed.), Changing the Narrative: The 2019 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (pp. 186–225). Bruner Foundation. https://www. rudybruneraward.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/RBA-Pub2019_ BOOK_FINALhq_ParisiteSkatepark.pdf (2020). 63. Pickard, S. Politics, Protest and Young People: Political Participation and Dissent in 21st Century Britain (Palgrave Mac, 2019). 64. Donger, E. Children and youth in strategic climate litigation: advancing rights through legal argument and legal mobilization. Transnatl. Environ. Law 11, 263–289 (2022). 65. Rodela, R. & Stuber, A. B. An Overview of Youth-led Legal Mobilization Cases in Response To The Environmental Crisis: Stockholm 22 (2023). 66. Fraser, N. Rethinking recognition. N. Left Rev. 3, 107–120 (2000). 67. Corvera, N. Participación Ciudadana De Los Niños Como Sujetos De Derechos. Servicio Nacional de Menores (SENAME). https://www. sename.cl/wsename/otros/participacion_2013/Documentos_ bibliograficos/nuevos/Participación%20ciudadana%20de%20los% 20niños%20como%20sujetos%20de%20derechos (2013). 68. Martínez-Palacios, A., Youth and participatory budgeting in Barcelona. Participedia. https://participedia.net/case/decidim- participatory-budgeting-in-barcelona (2016). 69. Katsavounidou, G. Where and how girls play when they are too old for playgrounds? Young girls and the space of the Greek neighbourhood in urban, suburban, and rural childhood memories. Gend. Dev. 32, 201–222 (2024). 70. Kraftl, P. Childhood and planning: discursive, institutional and everyday politics. Prog. Plan. 140, 1–20 (2020). 71. Tonucci, F. Destinazione: La città dei bambini. FarFarFare. https:// farfarfare.it/destinazione-la-citta-dei-bambini/ (2023) 72. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Prohibiting the Marketing and Use of The “mosquito” Youth Dispersal Device (Recommendation 1930). Council of Europe. https://assembly.coe. int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=17891 (2010) 73. Abram, S. & Bajič, B. Sensory gentrification in the most beautiful city in the world. Ethnologia Fennica. https://doi.org/10.23991/ef.v51i2. 141830 (2025). 74. URBACT Re-Gen: Youth and urban regeneration – Let’s take back public spaces! Paris: URBACT Programme. https://urbact.eu/sites/ default/files/2026-01/IAP%20Final%20Report.pdf (2025). 75. Bondi, L. & Rose, D. Constructing gender, constructing the urban: a review essay. Gend. Place Cult. 10, 229–236 (2003).

  The patronising city: adult-centrism and youth exclusion in urban environments · 2026 · DOI

• Collins, D. C. & Kearns, R. A. Under curfew and under siege? Legal geographies of young people. Geoforum 32, 389–403 (2001). Powell, R. Child-friendly cities and communities: opportunities and challenges. Child Geogr. 22, 716–729 (2024). 9. 10. Lederbogen, F. et al. City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans. Nature 474, 498–501 (2011). 11. Monnet, N. & Boukala, M. Urban trajectories and posturing: the place of children and teenagers in the makeup of the city. Enfances Familles Générations 30. https://doi.org/10.7202/1052857ar (2018). 12. Percy-Smith, B. Negotiating active citizenship: young people’s participation in planning. in: A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation (eds B. Percy-Smith, B. & Thomas, N.) 13–25 (Springer, 2015). 13. Neas, S., Ward, A. & Bowman, B. Young people’s climate activism: a 33. Rodela, R. & Roumeliotis, F. Young people as a political subject in the context of environmental governance. Humanit. Soc. Sci. Commun. 11, 1–9 (2024). 34. Hagemann, F. A., Sang, ÅO. & Randrup, T. B. Young people’s participation in urban landscape planning and transformation: a scoping review of interactive approaches. Socio-Ecol. Pract. Res. 6, 433–454 (2024). 35. Bečević, Z. & Dahlstedt, M. On the margins of citizenship: youth participation and youth exclusion in times of neoliberal urbanism. J. Youth Stud. 25, 362–379 (2021). 36. Hall, S. F. A conceptual mapping of three anti-adultist approaches to youth work. J. Youth Stud. 23, 1293–1309 (2019). 37. Castro, A. J., Hewko, A., Clay, K. L., Siegel-Hawley, G. & Bridges, K. Not “citizens in waiting”: student counter-narratives of anti-equity campaigns. Educ. Policy 38, 1638–1675 (2024). review of the literature. Front. Political Sci. 4, 940876 (2022). 38. Gordon, H. R. Allies within and without: How adolescent activists 14. Rodela, R. & Norss, E. Opening up spatial planning to the participation of children and youth: the Swedish experience. Eur. Plan. Stud. 31, 252–269 (2022). conceptualize ageism and navigate adult power in youth social movements. J. Contemp. Ethnogr. 36, 631–668 (2007). 39. Hall, S. F. The perceived adultism scale: initial validation of an 15. Lundy, L., Kilkelly, U. & Byrne, B. Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in law: a comparative review. Int. J. Child. Rights 21, 442–463 (2013). 16. Cairns, L. O. et al. Laying the foundations for a child-focused cities analytical framework: reflections from an international, interdisciplinary collaboration. Urban Plann. 9 (2024). 17. Bell, J. Understanding Adultism: A Major Obstacle to Developing Positive Youth-Adult Relationships. YouthBuild https://actioncivics. scoe.net/pdf/Understanding_Adultism.pdf (1995). 18. DeJong, K. & Love, B. J. Youth oppression as a technology of colonialism: conceptual frameworks and possibilities for social justice education praxis. Equity Excell. Educ. 48, 489–508 (2015). 19. Hart, R. A.

  The patronising city: adult-centrism and youth exclusion in urban environments · 2026 · DOI

• The commercialization of play spaces. The marginalization of pedagogically valuable and participatory play environments. The need for accountability, transparency, and the right to the city in the context of childhood.

  From eco to exploitation: A case study of the transformation and commercialization of an urban play space at Ada Ciganlija · 2026 · DOI

• The need to understand how urban policy, design rationales, and shifting societal values shape public play spaces and their pedagogical potential. The lack of research on the longitudinal transformation of public play spaces. The need to critically evaluate the pedagogical potential of public play spaces in urban contexts.

  From eco to exploitation: A case study of the transformation and commercialization of an urban play space at Ada Ciganlija · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of disaggregated data on the evolution of the nightlife industry over time. The impossibility of obtaining the City Hall's database on nightlife venues.

  The implementation of the 15-minute city model in Barcelona and the decline of the city’s nightlife industry · 2026 · DOI

• The challenge of integrating environmental values into urban governance practices. The challenge of considering the consequences of actions for future generations. The challenge of designing algorithmic systems that consider local cultural and ecological contexts.

  Philosophical Aspects of Managing Environmental Values in Urbanised Areas: Copenhagen, Shenzhen and Kaunas · 2026 · DOI

• Further research should examine the impact of algorithmic systems on urban governance practices. The study of ethical infrastructures and cultural sensitivity in managing sustainable urban development should be continued.

  Philosophical Aspects of Managing Environmental Values in Urbanised Areas: Copenhagen, Shenzhen and Kaunas · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need to study the fragmentation of the city and the constitution of parallel societies. There is a need to critique Danish urban, housing, and social policies.

  SCHULTZ LARSEN, T., & DELICA, K. N. (2024), Fragmenting Cities: The State, Territorial Stigmatization and Urban Marginality. Edward Elgar Publishing. · 2026 · DOI

• The study highlights the urgent environmental and equity challenges posed by global gated urbanization. The review emphasizes the need for further research on the intersectional understanding of GCs as sociopolitical assemblages. The study's findings can inform urban planning and policy-making.

  A Systematic Review of the Global Literature on Gated Communities: A Temporal Perspective · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Urban Planning and Governance

• From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism · Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography · 1989 · 9,276 citations
• Cities and the Geographies of “Actually Existing Neoliberalism” · Antipode · 2002 · 1,944 citations
• Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning · Journal of the American Planning Association · 2005 · 1,851 citations
• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it) · Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society · 2017 · 1,760 citations
• A Space for Place in Sociology · Annual Review of Sociology · 2000 · 1,659 citations
• Struggling with the Creative Class · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · 2005 · 1,566 citations
• New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy · Antipode · 2002 · 1,542 citations
• Intensities of feeling: towards a spatial politics of affect · Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography · 2004 · 1,397 citations
• The social construction of scale · Progress in Human Geography · 2000 · 1,236 citations
• The ‘System’ of Automobility · Theory Culture & Society · 2004 · 1,225 citations

Most recent work

• Informal infrastructuring: The defining feature of 21st century urbanization · Progress in Human Geography · 2026
• Green infrastructure–urban planning nexus: Role, discourse and possibilities in achieving socio-ecological sustainability and resilience · Cities · 2026
• Examining state-led gentrification using street view imagery: Evidence from Shanghai, China · Cities · 2026
• Rise or fall of the superblocks? Discussing recent dilemmas of a popular urban sustainability strategy in the neoliberal city · Cities · 2026
• Taking urban green space seriously: On environmental justice and equity · Geoforum · 2026
• Political economy and everyday practices behind gentrification in working-class urban neighbourhoods · Hungarian Geographical Bulletin · 2026
• When more isn't better: Reevaluating urban vitality's role in fostering social cohesion · Cities · 2026
• EPISTEMIC EXTRACTIVISM IN ENGAGED URBAN AND HOUSING RESEARCH : Implications and Counter‐measures · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · 2026
• Urban geography II: Crisis-thinking and critical urbanism · Progress in Human Geography · 2026
• Transit-induced gentrification in the context of urban regeneration: Evidence from East London and implications for inclusive transit-oriented development · Cities · 2026

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