Design culture for climate transition. What future for the city, landscapes, and forms of dwelling?
INTRODUCTION
Contemporary cities and territories are at the centre of environmental, social, and economic challenges that climate change has rendered structural. Urban areas occupy 3% of the Earth’s surface but are responsible for 60-80% of greenhouse gas emissions and 75% of natural resource consumption (UN-Habitat, 2022). The construction sector, encompassing building, operations, and demolition, alone accounts for 37% of global emissions (UNEP, 2024).
These data define a framework wherein the climate crisis is, first and foremost, a crisis of the built environment: of its forms, materials,
production processes, and the relationships it generates between space and society.
OBJECTIVES
The call is addressed to scholars and researchers interested in a critical and transdisciplinary debate on the role of design culture in the climate transition. Contributions are invited that:
- propose design perspectives that, within a transdisciplinary dimension, address climate challenges with attention to Nature-
based Solutions, the circular economy, and urban morphology as a determinant of environmental performance;
- document theoretical or methodological research, or design experimentations (at various scales) in which climate mitigation
and adaptation are integrated with processes of urban and territorial regeneration;
- critically analyse the operative, conceptual, and institutional difficulties that the climate transition poses to design disciplines,
including through a re-reading of disciplinary literature and studies on the city, territory, and architecture;
- propose conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and tools capable of renewing design languages and practices, integrating climate knowledge into the transformation processes of the built space, also through the integration of digital and analogue
tools in design decision-support processes.
THEMATIC AXES
The call is divided into six thematic axes. Each defines a field of investigation distinct by object, scale, or disciplinary perspective.
TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS
The call welcomes the following types of contributions:
1. RESEARCH ARTICLES
Original theoretical, methodological, or applied research contributions, which may take the form of a critical essay, a re-reading of literature (including non-disciplinary), or historiographical reflection, and which provide significant advancements to knowledge in the field of urban and territorial design for combating climate change.
2. CASE STUDIES AND BEST PRACTICES
Critical documentation of projects, plans, and strategies that have been implemented or are in an advanced stage of development, illustrating innovative approaches, experimental methodologies, or results of particular interest to the scientific and professional community.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Deadline Abstract*: 15.12.2026
Acceptance of Abstracts and Notification to Authors: 30.12.2026
Receipt of manuscripts from authors: 30.03.2027
*Abstracts (max 500 words + 3 keywords) must include:
- Title of the contribution
- Authors and affiliations
- Theoretical framework and objectives
- Methodology
- Main expected or achieved results
- Reference thematic axis
- Type of contribution
- Up to 5 bibliographical references
(excluded from the 500-word count)
View the full document here too