Urbanization, migration, and the challenges of resilience thinking in urban planning: Insights from two contrasting planning systems in Germany and Iran

Abstract

This paper examines transformative resilience as the common challenge for urban/regional governance and planning systems in two contrasting contexts from the Global North (Germany) and the Global South (Iran). The aim is to reveal the pathways and trade-offs through which governance and planning systems interactions constrain or open opportunities for transformative resilience to the challenges posed by urbanization and migration dynamics. To proactively deal with the new requirements emerging from urbanization, climate change, migration, and their associated challenges on cities, the resilience narrative is discussed by examining the guiding discourses on resilience in the context of urban and regional planning. The comparative case study method is based on the ‘Most Different Systems Design’ to analyze the heterogeneous governance and planning systems and examine transformative resilience as their common challenge. The findings from the case study analysis revealed the associated strengths and weaknesses of the established governance processes (decentralized v.s centralized) and planning systems (performing v.s conforming) to drive the transition toward transformative resilience. Recommendations stress the need for reorganization of governance structures and reorientation of planning frameworks in the context of increasing complexities induced by urbanization and migration dynamics.