In the Spatial Planning/Sustainability working group, we deal with issues from the fields of spatial planning and geographical sustainability research. In the forefront are the diverse, complex social transformation and governance processes at a variety of spatial levels.
What does it mean, for example, to live, consume and be mobile in a sustainable way? What role does spatial planning play in this context? Is it possible to mediate impartially between competing demands regarding the use of space, and can society be structured and ordered as we did in the past? Or, if spatial planning itself is subordinated to societal processes and forces, what is the role then played by planning? Which power structures are established in the context of planning tasks? And how can alternative forms of organisation be integrated into the existing range of planning tools? What does all this mean for democratic planning?
Instead of looking at the knowledge generated by sustainable planning as validated, this knowledge itself becomes the focus of research. For this reason, in our working group we investigate patterns of action and institutional control modes from a decidedly critical perspective.