Planning for Urban Sustainability

Edited by Malene Freudendal-Pedersen, Professor of Urban Planning, Daniel Galland, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Jens Iuel-Stissing, Associate Professor of Sustainable Transitions, Department of Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark

• ContentsForeword xiPART I FOUNDATIONS1 Urban contingencies at work: the influence of planningdoctrines, disciplines and practices on planning for urbansustainability 2Daniel Galland, Jens Iuel-Stissing and Malene Freudendal-PedersenPART II DOCTRINES2 The Copenhagen Finger Plan: evolution, significance andcontemporary challenges 23Kristian Olesen and Morten Elle3 Affordable housing between market and state: thedevelopment of social housing in Denmark 37Matthew Howells and Kristian Olesen4 Building place-sensitive perspectives between strategy andparticipation: a planning doctrine in the making 51Carsten Jahn Hansen, Nikolaj Grauslund Kristensen, MortenElle and Lars BodumPART III DISCIPLINES5 Upsetting transport planning rationalities: understandingcycling through mobilities 67Andrés Felipe Valderrama Pineda, Malene FreudendalPedersen, Morten Elle and Caroline Samson6 A disciplinary challenge: integrating climate adaptation andurban planning – professional boundary work in times ofsystemic changes 80Birgitte Hoffmann and Maj-Britt Quitzau7 The digital transformation of the public sector in Denmarkand its influence on urban planning 95Lars Bodum, Daniel Galland and Rasmus Nedergård Steffansen8 Between fragmentation and integration: the transformation ofDanish coastal and maritime governance and planning 111Carsten Jahn Hansen, Rasmus Nedergård Steffansen andMatthew Howells9 Power and knowledge: the legacy of educating professionalplanners 127Enza LissandrelloPART IV PRACTICES10 Making the invisible visible: unfolding the temporalities ofplanning amidst crises 145Miriam Holst Jensen, Birgitte Hoffmann and Daniel Galland11 From planning practice to urban practice: integratingeveryday life in planning for urban sustainability 160Caroline Samson, Malene Rudolf Lindberg, MaleneFreudendal-Pedersen and Daniel Galland12 Urban experimentation in Copenhagen: from critical ideal toplanning culture and planning practice 174Jens Iuel-Stissing, Malene Freudendal-Pedersen, DanielGalland and Emil Høg13 Urban experimentation and bureaucratic urban politics inplanning for urban sustainability 187Ask Greve Johansen, Jens Iuel-Stissing and Daniel Galland14 Navigating future knowledge 200Rasmus Nedergård SteffansenPART V CONCLUSION15 The value of an urban contingency logic in planning for urbansustainability 213Jens Iuel-Stissing, Daniel Galland and Malene Freudendal-Pedersen

‘Planning for Urban Sustainability offers a powerful critique of global urban solutionism while making a compelling case for urban planning rooted in the specificity of place. Through the lens of doctrines, disciplines, and practices, the book shows how urban sustainability emerges not from copying best practices, but from reconfiguring existing socio-technical arrangements, navigating institutional tensions, and engaging with the everyday. Its commitment to experimentation, improvisation, and learning from within planning cultures—rather than outside them—makes this a timely and important contribution for those rethinking the role of planning in the face of climate and social crises. A vital resource for scholars and practitioners committed to situated, just, and context-sensitive urban transitions.’