Demands for economic growth, competition between the cities and pressure to attract investments need to be dealt with in conditions of climate crisis, growing political populism and divisive international relations. Is spatial planning becoming peripheral in relation to other local and national policies that are seen more central in meeting these challenges?

In such challenging circumstances, the links between territoriality of planning and its administrative legitimacy and democratic justification must be re-examined. For dealing with issues of global equity and common challenges, it is becoming increasingly important to understand global interdependencies of local policies.  How do, e.g., smart city developments in the West affect the social, economic and environmental conditions and possibilities for a “good life” in places where resources for smart technologies are extracted and utilized? Do we have the capacity to understand the spillover effects of local sustainability-aspiring policies?

While technological advances such as Big Data and generative AI provide new possibilities for collecting and analyzing data in connection to determining planning objectives, their implications to spatial justice need to be critically reviewed. Are we entering a new era of algorithmic knowledge domination, marginalizing the prudent planner?

There is a need for a new planning agenda for biodiversity and radical all-species inclusivity, but also for difficult social and political issues, such as international (forced) migration, the new geopolitical order brought by scarcity of critical minerals, and the expansion of extractive global economy to final frontiers of the globe, such as the Arctics.