Asma Mehan

This study examines the vernacular wooden architecture of Gilan, Iran, and Shikoku, Japan. Both regions are located in a humid subtropical climate with vast forests and timber resources. Although far apart, Gilan and Shikoku were shaped by comparable environmental conditions, resulting in architectural parallels and climate-driven tectonics. One of the main shared characteristics is elevated wooden foundations. This study uses a comparative approach, employing structural and spatial analysis. By analyzing case studies from the Gilan Rural Heritage Museum and the Shikoku Mura Museum with elevated wooden foundations, this research identifies other key architectural features, including steep gabled roofs and extensive use of unprocessed natural materials. In Gilan, local “shikili” houses are characterized by wooden structures resting on pyramid-like individual foundations (pakeh), thick mud-plastered and wooden walls, and expansive semi-open porches (telar), which are the main living space and surround the central rooms of the building. Shikoku’s structures, while also elevated, rely on complex wooden joinery techniques such as stepped dovetailed splice (koshikake aritsugi), stepped gooseneck splice (koshikake kamatsugi) and groundsill joint (dodai shiguchi), showcasing advanced craftsmanship rather than mass production, which is also employed in the construction of wooden panel walls. Both regions presented architectural types suited to the regional environmental conditions; however, there were some differences in structural character, material use, and spatial organization. This study explores how understanding vernacular contexts leads to convergence and divergence in architecture while also demonstrating the preservation of local crafts.

The Jundishapour University of Ahvaz’s Mosque, designed by renowned architect Kamran Diba, is one of the most significant examples of modern religious architecture in 20th-century Iran. The mosque was constructed as part of a broader effort to revive traditional Iranian architecture during the Pahlavi era and reflects a unique synthesis of historical forms and modernist design principles. Rather than replicating past models, Diba reinterprets traditional elements, such as the courtyard (sahn), iwan, dome, and mihrab, through a contemporary lens, crafting a space that balances spiritual symbolism with architectural innovation. The mosque is not only a site for prayer but also a socially active space embedded within the daily life of the university campus, bridging dormitories, student facilities, and academic buildings along a carefully pedestrian axis. Its spatial sequence, material choices (especially brick), and calculated play with geometry and light contribute to a sensory experience rooted in tradition and modernity. This qualitative study, grounded in archival sources, historical documentation, and architectural analysis, emphasizes the cultural and architectural value of the mosque. This research positions the Jundishapour University Mosque as a noteworthy example of integrating contemporary and traditional architecture, deserving of preservation as part of Iran’s contemporary architectural heritage.

The Navajo Nation, spanning 27,000 square miles across the American Southwest, faces pressing challenges linked to water rights and environmental sustainability. Despite holding legal rights to water from Navajo Lake since 1908, as upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, access to clean and reliable drinking water remains a significant hurdle. Approximately 30% of the population depends on water transported from distant sources, underscoring severe scarcity compounded by environmental contamination. Legacy issues from uranium mining during the Cold War era have tainted wells, while unregulated landfills and agricultural chemicals further degrade groundwater, threatening public health and ecosystems. Covering four major river basins — the Colorado, San Juan, Rio Grande, and Little Colorado — the Nation faces unique challenges in each. Twenty aquifers within its territory are increasingly at risk of depletion and heavy metal contamination, limiting their suitability for drinking water and agriculture. Climate change-induced droughts have raised salinity levels in lakes and aquifers, further straining resources for irrigation, wildlife, and agricultural productivity. Although the Nation oversees 212,000 acres of farmland, yielding $92 million annually in agricultural output, the region’s arid conditions pose significant obstacles to sustainable farming. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to analyze water rights and environmental challenges within the Navajo Nation, serving as a pedagogical base for research, education, and policymaking. It begins by exploring historical legal documents, such as Supreme Court rulings and regional water rights agreements, to trace the evolution of the Nation’s entitlements. To assess the human and environmental dimensions of water challenges, the research synthesizes available records and integrates broader contextual analysis to capture the scale and scope of these issues. By incorporating stakeholder perspectives, the study contextualizes the ongoing struggles and identifies key areas for intervention and improvement. Additionally, the research compares adaptive strategies used by other Indigenous communities facing similar challenges. This comparative lens not only informs actionable, context-sensitive solutions but also reinforces the study’s role as a foundational educational resource. By blending legal analysis and socio-environmental evaluation, the research provides a comprehensive view of the multifaceted water issues confronting the Navajo Nation. It underscores the importance of technological innovation, policy reform, and community-driven efforts to safeguard water resources, restore ecological balance, and promote sustainable development. As a pedagogical tool, the study aims to enrich discourse on Indigenous water rights and environmental justice, equipping educators, policymakers, and future researchers with a robust framework to address both historical and contemporary challenges.

For over thirty years, the construction of Interstate 27 in Lubbock, Texas, has exemplified how infrastructure projects can exacerbate social and economic disparities within urban areas. Although initially designed to improve connectivity and drive economic development, I-27 has instead created a stark physical and social divide. This highway separates the predominantly Black and Hispanic communities of North and East Lubbock from the wealthier, majority-white neighborhoods to the west. Compounding this divide, industrial zoning policies have relegated marginalized communities to areas exposed to environmental hazards, reinforcing systemic inequality and spatial injustice. This study employs a hands-on pedagogical approach, enabling students to collaborate directly with community members and tackle intricate urban challenges through experiential learning. The findings highlight the potential of combining technological tools, such as GIS and data visualization, with grassroots efforts and participatory planning to reimagine marginalized urban spaces as equitable and resilient. The research advocates rethinking urban planning practices by prioritizing local needs, harnessing community knowledge, and fostering inclusive development. Situating Lubbock’s experiences within a broader national framework, the study underscores how infrastructure and zoning policies have historically marginalized communities of color across the United States. It employs a multi-scalar perspective, examining the local impact of zoning decisions on daily life while linking these issues to broader movements for spatial justice, climate resilience, and sustainable urban growth. The study contributes to the field of architecture and urban planning by proposing a multidisciplinary, pedagogy-driven methodology. This approach integrates student participation, community collaboration, and advanced technological tools to address complex challenges. Ultimately, it seeks to advance equity, sustainability, and social justice in urban development.

This paper discusses the development of integrated design-to-production frameworks for Robotic Concrete 3D Printing (RC3DP) of context-specific urban furniture projects. The study focuses on two main objectives: developing computational methods for continuous toolpath planning of bespoke components and examining integrated frameworks to make design-to-production systems more socio-environmentally inclusive and tailored to specific contexts. Following an introduction to outline the key challenges of continuous robotic concrete 3D printing, the paper is organized into two sets of case studies. The first set explores curved-based continuous 3D printing for surface-based design strategies, and the second set investigates voxel-based approaches for volumetric design 3D printing. Curve-based projects consisted of three case studies. The first case uses an AI-enabled generative system to translate a porous, cellular structure to a continuous toolpath with variable heights. The second case study is based on a workflow using a controlled reaction-diffusion algorithm as a generative strategy to create continuous infill for complex geometries. The third project focuses on growing larger than the size of the production setup by testing the assembly of multiple printed components, all produced with continuous toolpaths. The workflows and projects are developed as an integral part of a graduate-level digital design and fabrication course focusing on inclusive automation and robotic concrete 3D printing. Therefore, in addition to sharing the details of the developed computational design to production methodologies, the paper discusses the research findings from pedagogical lenses. Building on these cases, the investigation advances to the development of a generative system centered on voxels, employing a tetrahedron structure. This volumetric approach simultaneously produces external surface tectonics and internal infill through a seamless toolpath. The paper concludes by presenting sets of guidelines and future directions for both the introduced curve and voxel-based approaches in Robotic Concrete 3D printing, emphasizing the early integration of computational and fabrication intelligence into the design process.

This paper explores interdisciplinary and inclusive methodologies in architectural education, addressing contemporary socio-technical challenges. It highlights the role of collaborative frameworks in fostering dynamic learning environments and innovative pedagogical strategies. By integrating Industry 5.0 methodologies and digital mapping, we examine their impact on design processes, material innovation, and urban discourse. Through co-production and computational design techniques, we showcase the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration in shaping future architects. Additionally, we discuss how these approaches enhance problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking skills essential for contemporary architectural practice. This study also investigates how emerging technologies in Industry 5.0 facilitate human-centered design, sustainability, and resilience in built environments. By leveraging digital tools, automation, and adaptive systems, architectural education can better prepare students for evolving industry demands. The paper presents practical case studies from our design studios, demonstrating the transformative potential of these methodologies. This study offers valuable insights for educators seeking to enhance inclusivity, adaptability, and innovation in architectural pedagogy.

This paper explores interdisciplinary and inclusive methodologies in architectural education, addressing contemporary socio-technical challenges. It highlights the role of collaborative frameworks in fostering dynamic learning environments and innovative pedagogical strategies. By integrating Industry 5.0 methodologies and digital mapping, we examine their impact on design processes, material innovation, and urban discourse. Through co-production and computational design techniques, we showcase the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration in shaping future architects. Additionally, we discuss how these approaches enhance problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking skills essential for contemporary architectural practice. This study also investigates how emerging technologies in Industry 5.0 facilitate human-centered design, sustainability, and resilience in built environments. By leveraging digital tools, automation, and adaptive systems, architectural education can better prepare students for evolving industry demands. The paper presents practical case studies from our design studios, demonstrating the transformative potential of these methodologies. This study offers valuable insights for educators seeking to enhance inclusivity, adaptability, and innovation in architectural pedagogy.

The 1901 oil discovery at Spindletop marked a pivotal moment in the economic and industrial evolution of Southeast Texas. Once reliant on the lumber and cattle industries, the region rapidly emerged as a powerhouse of global petroleum production, redefining its economic trajectory. This study examines the far-reaching impacts of Spindletop, exploring how it reshaped the social fabric, urban development, and environmental landscape of key cities such as Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange. Framing the oil boom within broader discussions on industrial heritage, this research also examines the role of the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum in preserving and interpreting this pivotal chapter in history. Utilizing a qualitative approach, the study weaves together archival research, oral histories, and spatial analysis to track patterns of urban growth and industrialization following the oil boom. Additionally, environmental assessments provide insight into the long-term ecological consequences of petroleum-driven development, offering a critical perspective on the region’s industrial legacy and its relevance for sustainable futures. The trajectory of Spindletop serves as a microcosm for broader global energy transitions, highlighting the persistent tensions between economic expansion, resource dependency, and environmental responsibility. By revisiting this history, the research underscores the urgent need to balance industrial progress with ecological sustainability in addressing today’s energy challenges.

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly embedded in urban mobility and emergency response systems, where real-time decision-making, infrastructure coordination, and public safety converge. This article examines Urban Artificial Intelligence (Urban AI) through the domain of traffic management and emergency mobility, using these systems as a strategic entry point for analyzing broader questions of governance, equity, and resilience in AI-enabled cities. The paper develops a theoretical framework that distinguishes among cognitive, data-driven, and hybrid Urban AI models, highlighting how each approach shapes urban knowledge production, operational performance, and accountability. This framework is grounded through three U.S.-based case studies: AI-enabled emergency vehicle preemption in Fremont, California; AI-assisted subway infrastructure monitoring in New York City; and AI-driven signal coordination for emergency routing in Seattle. Together, these cases illustrate how Urban AI systems are deployed in real-world contexts to enhance efficiency, safety, and resilience. The analysis demonstrates that while Urban AI can significantly improve urban operations, its long-term legitimacy depends on integrating principles of equity, transparency, environmental responsibility, and participatory governance. The article concludes by arguing for integrated Urban AI models that balance technical effectiveness with democratic oversight, positioning Urban AI as a critical component of just, resilient, and inclusive urban futures.

This chapter explores the role of the residential neighborhoods, particularly planned, modernist neighborhoods traditionally home to the Tehran middle class in the recent Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran. The chapter ties the architectural history of modernist neighborhoods that have historically attracted a more politically active segment of society. At the same time, the authors also focus on the digital side of the movement, through the concept of digitalized resistance, illustrating how the digital and the physical realms of the protest came together to reinforce each other.

Historic preservation has traditionally prioritized architectural fabric and canonical narratives, often marginalizing the social relations, labor histories, and power structures embedded in heritage sites. This paper advances recovery as a distinct analytical and governance-oriented framework in heritage and planning, moving beyond restoration, resilience, and adaptive reuse by foregrounding relational repair, redistribution of interpretive authority, and heritage as civic infrastructure. Drawing on the 1705 Stone House at Mabee Farm Historic Site (Rotterdam Junction, New York) as a case study, I examine how technical conservation interventions (e.g. masonry stabilization, fenestration remediation, landscape integration) intersect with interpretive and community-based practices, including rotating exhibitions, participatory programming, and the naming of documented enslaved individuals. Through archival research, built-fabric assessment, and analysis of interpretive programming, I identify three constitutive dynamics of recovery: Material re-reading of space, Redistribution of agency, and Structural constraints, including archival silences, funding precarity, and commodification, which delimit the scope and durability of recovery. By framing recovery as an analytical, methodological, and normative framework, this study shifts attention from object-centered preservation toward ongoing processes of social and spatial repair. It further explores implications for heritage governance, planning regulation, and infrastructural decision-making, advocating preservation practices that cultivate shared custodianship, plural memory, and future-oriented civic engagement.

Adaptive reuse has emerged as a transformative strategy to foster sustainability in urban development while conserving cultural and historical resources. This paper examines adaptive reuse in relation to sustainability, with particular emphasis on industrial heritage sites and their role in reimagining urban spaces. Cities are faced with the undeniable reality of the construction industry’s significant contribution to global energy and emissions challenges, approximately one-third of global energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. This necessitates a far greater focus on climate strategies that preserve and extend the utility of existing buildings. As noted by the International Energy Agency, operational energy expenditures on buildings account for about 30 percent of global energy spending, and when construction materials are included, the figure rises to 34 percent. Additionally, the United Nations Environment Programme reports that combined CO₂ emissions from the operation and construction of buildings exceed one-third of total global CO₂ emissions. Thus, there is a need to shift from development centered on demolition toward reuse, retrofitting, and low-carbon design. Adaptive reuse sidesteps the significant embodied carbon “upfront” footprint of new construction. Research shows that the reuse and retrofit of existing structures can offset 50-75% of carbon emissions compared to new construction. Lifecycle analysis of a renovation project demonstrated a 37% reduction in total carbon emissions over 60 years compared to a code-compliant new build, and operational energy savings alone can offset the carbon penalty of renovation within two years. Other studies report a 68-78% embodied carbon reduction in adaptive reuse projects. Through international case studies in Portland, Beijing, Shanghai, Amsterdam, London, and Cape Town, this paper integrates ecological, economic, and cultural aspects to frame policy. It proposes a governance strategy based on whole-life carbon assessment, multi-criteria decision analysis, and heritage policy to root adaptive reuse as the backbone of resilient and just urbanism.

Urban green spaces contribute significantly to public health, social cohesion, and environmental quality. However, their inclusive design remains under-examined in mid-sized U.S. cities, especially through a gender-sensitive lens. This study develops a framework for evaluating inclusive and gender-sensitive design of urban green spaces, applying it to downtown Lubbock, Texas. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, we deployed an online Qualtrics survey and conducted focus groups with students from Texas Tech University to explore how accessibility, walkability, perceived safety, and design features shape park usage and sense of belonging. Results reveal that inadequate lighting, limited seating, insufficient shade, and unclear signage are major barriers to park use—particularly during early-morning and evening hours. The proposed three-dimensional framework (social dynamics; accessibility & safety; spatial quality) highlights how design and planning practices can reinforce exclusion. Findings offer actionable recommendations for landscape architects and city planners aligned with the Plan Lubbock 2040 vision, suggesting interventions such as targeted lighting enhancements, diversified seating, multilingual signage, and community-led stewardship programs.

Today, urban planning attempts to address trans-scalar issues while dealing with the increasingly complex socio-environmental, economic, and cultural challenges that demand specific, innovative, sustainable, and inclusive solutions. The 18th AESOP Young Academics Conference, titled Bridging Gaps: Urban Planning for Coexistence, was organized and hosted by a group of PhD candidates at the Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico di Milano) in March 2024. The conference was conceived as an open platform, designed specifically by and for early career researchers to engage with these challenges. It aimed to address the theoretical and practical gaps within urban planning, seeking ways to transform them into constructive dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities. In a world shaped by environmental crises, urban-rural tensions, socio-economic disparities, and the diverging relationship between academia and practice, the conference offered a unique and safe space for young academics, including master’s and doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and other early career scholars, to critically rethink urban planning as a tool for coexistence. Participants explored new ways to address these challenges and bridge the identified gaps in the planning discourse through their research, methodologies, and case studies.

Following the discovery of oil in southwestern Iran, an unprecedented form of settlement emerged in the region. The company towns of Masjed Soleyman (Masjid-i-Suleiman) and Abadan were built independence on the British-owned oil company APOC, later AIOC. The development of these cities between 1901 and 1951 reflects broader socio-political dynamics between the Company and localpopulation. By considering both intra-company factors as well as national and international events, this research proposes a periodization aligned with shifts in the Company’s policies. It studies the architecture and urbanism of each period in accordance with the socio-political context. Initially, the settlements were temporary and, like the first infrastructure, extremely limited and rudimentary. However, with the expansionof oil operations, the settlements and infrastructure became more advanced. From the unprecedented juxtaposition of buildings for European staff, bungalows that bore traces of British colonial architecture, a complex structure emerged. Yet the peak of this complexity emerged with the further development of these settlements into garden cities, another hallmark of colonial architecture and urbanism, marking a transition from the mere adjacency of individual buildings to planned neighborhoods. The analysis conducted shows how these built environments functioned as identifiers and tools of class and racial segregation.

The growth of larger cities has marginalized small cities in urban planning. Small cities have capacities and abilities and put less pressure on the environment. However, such cities often are not able to foster international connections and use their potential. City diplomacy can be a useful tool for such cities to conduct international connections and improve their development, enabling them to establish partnerships with larger urban centers, thus gaining access to valuable resources, knowledge, and financial support. The purpose of this study is to find a rational relationship between urban diplomacy and the development of small towns. Specifically, disregarding their specific needs would lead to various challenges, including missed chances, hindered development, and deteriorated disparities, impacting society. A descriptive-analytical method is used in addition to direct scientific observation, imaging, and analysis of raw data to do the research. The author has conducted interviews and taken pictures of the case study area, and to reach a result, has compared the evidence of a region with potential with the results of other studies. Nour city has scattered stores and old urban contexts, indicating a lack of preparation for diplomatic and transnational relations. Based on field observations and statistical data, it can be deduced that in the city of Nour, due to the lack of related infrastructure and lack of diplomatic relations, the city does not have national or transnational relations, and this weakness has made the city underdeveloped in as the mentioned deficiencies are leading factors to failure.

This study presents a systems-thinking framework for mapping resilience within Indigenous urban landscapes, focusing on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Using participatory mapping, and mental mapping, the framework integrates Indigenous knowledge to examine resilience in complex socio-spatial environments. As both a research methodology and pedagogical tool, this approach bridges academic research with practical application, enabling students to engage in resilience planning that reflects Navajo community structures, land use, and environmental stewardship. Centered on the unique socio-environmental dynamics of the Navajo Nation, this study illustrates how traditional ecological knowledge, and cultural practices inform resilient urban planning. Mapping captures Indigenous spatial narratives, enriching systems thinking with insights into sustainable resource management and cultural resilience. Through participatory mapping workshops, students gain direct experience, aligning resilience strategies with Navajo values of community care and environmental respect. The core argument is that urban resilience must evolve through participatory engagement to address interdependent needs in Indigenous contexts. Research questions include: How can mapping foreground Navajo knowledge in resilience planning? What role does participatory mapping play in fostering systems thinking among planners? How does critical cartography contribute to sustainable policy in the built environment? The findings advocate for mapping as a tool in resilience education, equipping students with skills to design urban spaces that prioritize socio-spatial justice. This approach fosters an educational foundation for inclusive, sustainable urban resilience strategies, allowing future planners to center equity and sustainability in the built environment.

This chapter explores the intersection between radical humanism and the architectural humanities. It focuses on decolonizing local practices in Indigenous contexts. Radical humanism rooted in equality inclusivity and common well-being challenges the systematic injustices perpetuated by Eurocentric models in urban psychology and education. It focuses on Indigenous knowledge systems and methods of participation. This chapter shows how mapping can be reimagined as a tool for empowering promoting resilience in marginalized communities.

This chapter scrutinises the term 'public space' considering the COVID-19 pandemic's global impact, advocating for a more nuanced approach that encapsulates such spaces' diverse roles and functions. Drawing from the UN-Habitat Public Space Programme's 'City-wide Public Space Assessment', the study proposes four distinct categories for understanding urban 'non-private spaces'. It further introduces the term 'infrastructural spaces', emphasising inclusive mechanisms and challenging the conventional public/private binary. This research and call for action invite engagement with 'infrastructural spaces' to foster adaptable, inclusive, and sustainable urban environments aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This chapter sets the theoretical and political groundwork for the book by centring lived, embodied experience as a critical lens for understanding urban life. It critiques dominant technocratic planning systems for failing to engage with the affective, relational, and sensory dimensions of the city. The chapter advocates for experimental urban practices that resist corporate urbanism and reconfigure public space through gestures of care, memory, protest, and improvisation. Drawing on feminist, decolonial, and phenomenological approaches, it reimagines the city as a shifting field of bodily encounters and mediated politics. The chapter outlines a research ethic rooted in sensuous engagement and collective experimentation, calling on scholars and practitioners to expand the discursive and spatial possibilities of urban life. It also introduces the book's three thematic sections, positioning the body as a vital site of knowledge production, resistance, and transformation.

City, Public Space, and Body offers a timely and interdisciplinary examination of how bodies experience, shape, and are shaped by urban life, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bringing together contributions from scholars, artists, and practitioners across diverse geographies, the book explores the entangled relationships between urban space, embodiment, and publicness through a variety of methodological lenses including ethnography, visual and performative arts, and critical urban theory. The book highlights underexplored themes such as gendered vulnerability, spatial justice, post-pandemic public space, and marginalized urban bodies in both Global North and Global South contexts. By focusing on lived experience and embodied methodologies, the book challenges dominant urban narratives and contributes fresh perspectives on space, care, power, and resistance. It will benefit readers seeking to rethink cities not merely as physical or functional entities, but as affective and contested terrains of social life. Designed for researchers, students, and professionals in urban studies, sociology, planning, architecture, gender studies, and cultural geography, this collection foregrounds the bodily and sensory dimensions of urban encounters, spatial politics, and everyday life.

This dialogue between the old and new editorial board marks the 10thanniversary of plaNext–Next Generation Planning, reflecting on its evolution as an experimental and inclusive platform for earlycareer scholars. Born out of the AESOP Young Academics Network, plaNexthas advocated the principles of open peer review, aiming to foster constructive, transparent and mentorship-driven academic publishing. As a fully online and open-access journal, it has served as both a publishing outlet and a pedagogical space where academic writing is cultivated collaboratively. Now indexed in Scopus, plaNextenters a new phase—grappling with questions of visibility, institutional expectations and the sustainability of its original mission. This dialogue gathers founding and current editorial board members to examine key milestones, reflect on the ideological and operational implications of open review, and strategize on maintaining the journal’s core identity while embracing global relevance and growth. Through honest discussion of challenges, aspirations and future pathways, the conversation offers critical insights into the journal’s past decade and its renewed commitments for the next.

This paper examines how the legacy of Jim Crow laws continues to shape Lubbock’s urban form and social geography. Drawing on historical maps, policy documents, and spatial analysis, it traces the city’s use of racial zoning, discriminatory urban renewal, and infrastructure placement to enforce segregation well into the mid-20th century. The talk highlights how these planning decisions left lasting physical and socio-economic divides, influencing housing patterns, public amenities, and mobility networks. By connecting past policies to present-day inequities, the presentation invites a critical discussion on the role of architects, planners, and policymakers in addressing structural injustice and advancing spatial equity.

The Navajo Nation faces critical challenges in developing housing that is resilient to climate change while honoring cultural heritage. Socio‐economic disparities, limited infrastructure, and extreme environmental conditions demand innovative solutions that integrate sustainable practices with traditional Navajo values. This study critically examines the potential of smart design‐build technologies to create resilient, culturally appropriate housing tailored to the Navajo Nation’s unique needs, while interrogating the normative assumptions that often accompany Western frameworks of sustainability and innovation. This research combines a multidisciplinary literature review with a graduate‐level design studio’s explorative and applied insight. The literature review synthesizes advancements in sustainable technologies—such as off‐grid power systems, alternative materials, and participatory design methods—through a decolonial lens that challenges dominant planning paradigms. A conceptual framework was constructed to evaluate the intersection of cultural coherence, technological viability, material sustainability, socio‐environmental adaptability, and governance. Off‐grid solutions, including solar panels and wind turbines, offer clean energy alternatives, while locally sourced materials, like earth‐based and carbon‐environmentally informed additive manufacturing solutions, provide cost‐effective, low‐carbon options suitable for the arid climate. The study emphasizes participatory design, engaging local communities in developing housing solutions that align with cultural values and modern needs. By combining traditional Navajo architectural principles—such as circular forms and earthen materials—with smart technologies, the resulting designs are resilient, sustainable, and socially relevant. The design studio component enabled graduate students to explore speculative housing prototypes grounded in this framework, evaluated in dialogue with Navajo cultural liaisons and contextual constraints, thereby centering Indigenous perspectives in both process and output. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on smart, resilient infrastructure, offering insights for policymakers, designers, and funders to support localized, culturally and environmentally informed housing solutions in Indigenous communities.

This article reflects on the ten-year journey of plaNext – Next Generation Planning, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal initiated by the AESOP Young Academics Network (AESOP-YAN). First published in 2015, plaNext has served as a platform for early-career researchers to engage in planning debates, publish their work, and foster professional development. As the journal approaches its tenth anniversary, this reflection examines its history, legacy, and future directions, highlighting its role in promoting inclusive, critical, and innovative scholarship in the field of planning. Over the past decade, plaNext has evolved into a dynamic forum that publishes diverse contributions, fosters international dialogues, and challenges conventional planning paradigms. The journal’s commitment to promoting interdisciplinary dialogues is evident in its eclectic range of published works, encompassing empirical research, theoretical discussions, innovative methodologies, and critical case studies. This breadth reflects plaNext’s mission to serve as a conduit for creative and socially responsive planning research. As the journal evolved, it remained steadfast in its dedication to nurturing the professional development of young academics by providing opportunities for early-career researchers to engage in editorial processes, peer review, and scholarly debates. As plaNext transitions to a new editorial board, this article offers a comprehensive overview of its evolution and impact. Drawing on the journal’s trajectory and broader shifts in planning scholarship, the discussion highlights the critical role of platforms like plaNext in shaping the discipline’s future.

The planetary emergence of ecological and societal threats, ranging from wildfires to the industrial byproducts powering our energy transitions, has accelerated at unprecedented rates. Amid the looming specter of worst-case climate scenarios, a pressing need exists for a transformative approach that transcends green neoliberalism to strive for genuine climate justice. This paper explores potential pathways for such transformative design interventions, focusing on the Gulf of Mexico’s marine infrastructure. The Gulf of Mexico, characterized by its vast marine network, stands as a testament to age-old patterns of extraction and racialization that underpin our current epoch. As a reminder of past exploitative practices and a possible start for a new way of thinking, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) shows how design can evolve and lead to change. While addressing immediate industrial needs, practices such as dredging carry long-term implications ranging from reshaping thriving marine ecosystems to altering coastal dynamics. This paper aims to look into how complicated these practices are and how design and architecture can lessen the destructive effects of these interventions and help with a larger climate justice strategy. It will stress the need for new, fair, and long-lasting ways to deal with the environmental and social problems in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.

Cities serve as dynamic arenas where citizens negotiate needs and co-create solutions to enhance urban life. To address the complexities of contemporary urban living, planning must respond to social justice, economic vitality, and cultural inclusion. This study explores how demographic factors—age, ethnicity, and economics—influence art engagement in two culturally distinct Texan cities: Lubbock and El Paso. Using qualitative comparative analysis and data from a graduate seminar at Texas Tech University, we examine student-led art projects reflecting community experiences. These creative works reveal how art fosters communication, cultural belonging, and social cohesion. Findings underscore that integrating art into urban planning—through public installations, murals, and participatory design—can revitalize underutilized spaces and address diverse community needs. The study argues for art as a tool of creative placemaking, especially in demographically varied cities, emphasizing that culturally responsive engagement strategies can cultivate inclusive, vibrant urban environments.