The neighborhood is the stage of everyday life. Children play, neighbors strike up conversations, and streets and squares become places for people to meet. At the same time, it is precisely here—in the neighborhood—that the major challenges of our time converge: climate change, the housing shortage, the mobility transition, and the question of what urban life should look like in the future. Amid these conflicting forces, neighborhood development is increasingly taking center stage—as the yardstick by which the success of urban transformation is ultimately measured.
Living Space, Anchor of Identity, and Testing Ground
The neighborhood is more than just a spatial unit. It is a living space, an anchor of identity, and a testing ground all at once. This is where global challenges intersect with people’s concrete everyday lives. This is precisely why neighborhood development presents a unique opportunity: solutions cannot remain abstract but must prove themselves in the lived environment.
This issue explores how neighborhoods can be conceived, developed, and built upon today. The focus is not only on new development areas but especially on the existing built environment—those multifaceted, often contradictory spaces where transformation takes place under real-world conditions. This highlights how important a precise understanding of local contexts is: from spatial structures and social dynamics to existing infrastructure and open spaces. Neighborhood development is always a process of negotiation—between stakeholders, interests, and time horizons.
Open Spaces as Structuring Elements
Landscape architecture plays a special role in this context. Open spaces are no longer merely complementary elements but rather structuring elements of neighborhoods: they contribute to climate adaptation, promote biodiversity, and at the same time offer places for appropriation and encounter. Their ambiguity opens up scope for resilient and inclusive development. At the same time, this requires new planning tools and approaches—for example, in dealing with uncertainty, in process design, or in involving users.
Amid all this dynamism, there is one thing we must not lose sight of. Neighborhood development is not a short-term project, but a long-term process. The decisions we make today shape the quality of life for future generations. This makes it all the more important to think boldly while acting with care.
A Social Responsibility
This issue is dedicated to precisely these questions. It showcases projects that are breaking new ground, discusses strategies for climate-resilient open spaces, and highlights the role of planning as a social mission. Because one thing is clear: the future of the city is decided at the neighborhood level.
The June issue is available here in the shop.
Our May issue focused entirely on the topic of urban renewal. Read more about it here .
