Critical Planning
UCLA Urban Planning Journal
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Future
Volume 20, Fall 2013

Increasingly, the future is anticipated as the point of culmination for current political struggles and urban inequalities. The future defines our present cities with impending political restructuring, new technologies and the looming threat of the catastrophic consequences of climate change. As we prepare for and begin to experience these alterations, many trends have developed in the field of urban planning, most likely changing our cities forever.

Digital cities are emerging with technologically sophisticated surveillance, logistics and social networks and are marked by the pervasive spread of embedded computing. The worldwide political and economic restructuring of the last several decades will most likely continue its volatile reshaping of city spaces and hierarchies. Neoliberalism, globalization and the advanced industrialization of formerly peripheral economies have clouded our understandings of the future even further. Perhaps the future event promising the biggest impact on our cities is climate change. Although the world as a whole is warming, the local impacts will be varied. Undoubtedly, a reevaluation of our cities’ critical infrastructure must be performed as planners attempt to prepare for worsening natural disasters, rising sea levels and high-energy prices.

These alterations, both as engines of economic dynamism and as forces redefining human life will be pivotal in the form and workings of future cities. Are planners preparing for this future properly? How will cities be altered in the near and long term future as climate impacts accumulate? What is the future role of planning amidst new technologies and ways of life?

 For its 20th volume, Critical Planning invites critical research papers, book reviews, essays, literary journalism projects, poetry, and artistic projects that investigate and speculate on the future trajectories of cities and the role of urban planning. Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to:

• Climate changes
• Information technologies and logistics
• Green technologies and energy
• Politics and resistance
• Shrinking cities and emerging economies
• Social networks and digital communities 

Critical Planning is a double-blind peer-reviewed publication. Feature articles are generally between 5,000 and 7,000 words, while shorter articles are between 1,000 and 3,000 words. Essays range from 1,000 to 7,000 words. Poetry submissions should be fewer than 600 words or 4 poems, whichever is shorter. We encourage submissions that incorporate cross-disciplinary, multi-scalar, multi-sited, transnational, or mixed-method approaches. We also welcome submissions of photographs, maps, art, or design projects related to the topic The Future for publication in the journal.

The 2013 Edward W. Soja Prize for Critical Thinking in Urban and Regional Research will be awarded to the best article published in the 20th volume of Critical Planning. The prize celebrates the lifetime achievements of this critical thinker whose work continues to open new research directions for the theoretical and practical understanding of contemporary cities and regions. Preference will be given to authors speaking to critical issues outside the research agendas of traditional funding agencies and institutional donors. A cash prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the author of the winning article.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis, and we highly encourage early submissions. Feel free to contact us by email to discuss your ideas. All academic submissions should be written according to the standards of the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition. Please follow the journal’s additional style guidelines for submissions. Manuscripts should be submitted by 5 PM PST on January 15^th, 2013 as .doc attachments via email to critplan@ucla.edu, or mail two hard copies (postmarked by the same date) to:

Critical Planning
c/o Managing Editors
UCLA Department of Urban Planning
Luskin School of Public Affairs
3250 Public Policy Building
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
USA

We look forward to reading your submissions.

Best,

The Editors

critplan@ucla.edu
www.criticalplanning.org