ABSTRACT
The future of urban planning has been the object of continuous debate throughout the entire process of formulation of sustainability and climate change related strategies. To some extent, urban planning had been considered an inefficient tool, unable to address development effectively (UN-HABITAT 2010). The definition of sustainability objectives and the issues related to climate change impacts has renewed the attention towards tools that are able to influence the form of urban development and the shape of urban areas. Planning is now affirming itself as a tool to tackle not only the problems faced by urban areas, but also to devise how urban areas can positively contribute to sustainability issues in a new globalized world under the context of global climate change and global economic crises.
