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Many contend that end-state planning is no longer either acceptable or feasible. However, outside the formal planning system, communities do conceive radical proposals for the places they live in. Our paper makes a plea for a renewed appreciation of Utopias by revealing the diversity of such imagined futures of a place. By means of a review of the nature of 12 locally emerging Utopias in the Netherlands, combined with a literature review, we propose to use spectra to characterise imagined futures, bringing nuance to the debate and a re-appreciation of the transformative power of Utopian stories about futures of places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture / Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urban designers and landscape architects increasingly take up boundary spanning as part of their broadening role towards designing processes, policies, narratives and becoming design-led entrepreneurs. This study mapped the competencies and individual characteristics of boundary-spanning spatial designers in urban climate adaptation planning and revealed that in addition to ‘known’ boundary spanning skills, design-related skills and competences have strong boundary spanning potential. However, boundary spanning is conditioned by the position of the boundary spanner, as well as other organizational, institutional, and environmental factors. These insights are helpful for developing (re)new(ed) educational design-curricula, and aiding spatial designers in becoming competent boundary spanners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture / Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the pursuit of the communicative, collaborative and participatory planning processes advocated by academic planning literature, a practice has evolved that translates abstract objectives into practical workforms. Planning literature proposes many objectives that can be met by less top-down methods of generating ideas and making decisions. Little is known about how such objectives are translated into practical methods applied. This paper presents an inventory of practices that is meant to validate and supplement available theories on communicative planning. It concentrates on a specific part of the planning process: the moment where optional solutions to a problem are being generated, not by each stakeholder in isolation, but specifically by groups of stakeholders in constructive designerly interaction with each other. We interviewed 11 experienced professionals from the Netherlands who use interactive design sessions on a regular basis. This paper reports on their responses to questions about skills needed by session leaders, what types of venues are best to use, how to behave during sessions, requirements for participants to contribute, roles of governments and what explains the eventual effects of session outcomes. Although every session still needs to be tailor-made, based on practical wisdom and sensitivity to context, this study reveals recurring hands-on principles for organizing an effective dialogue for exploring solution space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]