Artificial intelligence and the planning task

Authors

  • Peter Ache Co-chair of AESOP Urban Futures Thematic Group, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24306/plnxt/108

Abstract

The editors of this special issue invited me to reflect on the planning task and, given the 10th anniversary of plaNext, to provide an outlook for the next ten years or more regarding urban futures, all in connection with artificial intelligence (henceforth, AI). A fine call to develop a piece of speculative future, seasoned with armchair evidence from actual debates about cities, futures, and artificial intelligence. I will do so in nine movements, starting by briefly addressing what the urban is made of, a clarification which is essential for our view on the makings of AI. Then I will look at AI proper, well not as an expert, which I am certainly not, but rather like what I find interesting about AI and what is supposedly confronting us in the planning context. Finally, a short outlook will be done inviting the renowned science fiction author Phil K. Dick for a comment on the future and the urban.

Published

2025-08-05

Issue

OnlineFirst

Section

Essay

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Peter Ache

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Peter Ache, Co-chair of AESOP Urban Futures Thematic Group, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Peter Ache is a Professor emeritus of planning, previously Radboud University, Nijmegen. He received his PhD from TU Dortmund and is a member of the German academy ARL. He was a former president of AESOP and co-chairs a thematic group on Urban Futures. His main research interest is related to metropolitan regions with their complex actor and governance structures. This research is connected to urban futures, vision and strategy making, conflict and utopia.

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