Conclusions: new insights in urban planning, management and governance in emerging economies

Abstract

A systematic analysis of chapters of this book lead to five conclusions: (1) Old problems have been reframed as wicked while new wicked problems have emerged. This reframing of problems is part of paradigm shifts. (2) Regional and urban planning remain as important as ever, but are increasingly decentralized, strategic, co-created, flexible and adaptive in order to cope with uncertainty. The modern planner is a strategist, facilitator and mediator. (3) Scholars and practitioners have realized that urban management is unable to deal with the uncertainty of wicked problems. (4) The role of local government is changing, with a greater focus on networking, learning and governing long-term and uncertain transitions. (5) Many cities in emerging economies are at best slowly evolving towards urban governance. They face major capacity and resource constraints and sometimes follow a modernization approach at the expense of other pressing problems such as poverty and inequality.