Introduction

In this chapter, we delve further into the idea of visioning and planning in cities. The urban has always been seen as a complex system of systems, a thriving and living organism, which constantly moves and heaves. In more modern parlance, it may also be seen as a machine of inter-related parts, each element of which works in tandem with others. Cities have developed over millennia and scholars have been continuously fascinated with this urban movement, as layers of change and development have transformed both the landscape and life within the urban arena. Cities today comprise a palimpsest, layer upon layer of history and intervention, of progress and growth, and of struggle and conflict.

Solutions to the challenges that cities face today might seem out of reach, but in reality societies and governments have always been faced with the need to respond. Having some sense of future direction, or trajectory of travel, is a significant task for any area faced with more immediate concerns. Visions are useful and valuable for their ability to contribute to democratic debate about appropriate directions forward; visions may have been much more directorial in past times than is called for today, but they do allow us to make sense of where we are and where we would like to be, even if the route to that destination is uncertain. As both city governments and urban planning powers have diminished, at least in the global north, and branded as unfashionable for the 21st century, questions remain about the usefulness of city visioning for planning, in a context where a multitude of organisations, sometimes in harmony but often fragmented, shape and reshape the city.

This will chapter examine the changing shape of cities, their complexity and transformational changes. It will set out the case for the development of city visions and for urban planning to be seen and utilised as a stock of knowledge and methods that can assist cities in both assessing and managing present-day challenges and carving out paths for the future.