Art-based Planning

European citizens are highly aware of the urgency of climate protection but transition to climate-neutral cities is often hindered by a lack of public engagement and resistance to change. Inclusive public participation is essential for ensuring citizens’ participation and acceptance in achieving sustainability goals. Current consultation practice uses text-heavy, technical communication of scientific and policy information and engagement formats. This creates barriers to understanding and participation and results in the systematic exclusion of underrepresented communities in decision making processes around urban futures. Developing accessible forms of representation alongside inclusive engagement formats is therefore key to unlocking the meaningful and just involvement of diverse social groups in sustainability transformations.

The proposed research project explores the potential of art-based formats to address these challenges and bridge the gap between science and policy driven planning processes and their communication to the public. We will focus on the potential of visual and sensory language to make complex sustainability concepts more broadly accessible across different age groups, cognitive abilities, and cultural backgrounds. Working with the planning administrations of the European Climate-Neutral and Smart cities X, Y and Z we will investigate the potential of art-based consultation formats to enhance participant recruitment, facilitate accessible knowledge transfer, and foster inclusive dialogue in urban sustainability consultations.

Research has highlighted the need to address existing institutional barriers to the broader implementation of art-based methods as legitimate, effective, and inclusive tools for public engagement in sustainability transitions. Those include public administration’s lack of awareness of artistic methods and the need for procedural flexibility to adapt to insights emerging from art-based formats. The research will investigate the necessary systemic and procedural changes to enable to the inclusion of artistic engagement in planning procedures for climate-neutral cities.

Niedersachsen KONSORT

54.963 Euro

May 2026–April 2027