ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 of Planning Wild Cities is entitled ‘Weather of mass destruction’. This chapter set out both the provocation and framework for the book’s critical engagement with the contemporary challenges and opportunities of wild cities in a climate of change. A key focus is exploring the nexus of possibilities for wild cities, care-full planning, and the eco-ethical imagination needed to drive sustainability-led pathways. Many now have serious doubts about the prospects for humanity to live within cities that are socially just and responsive to planetary limits. The focus on Australia’s Black Summer highlights not just the vulnerability of urban life in the face of climate-induced disasters, but also the urgent need to understand how cities have changed, and the relational role of planning within it. The chapter will be of particular interest to students and scholars of planning, urban studies, and sustainable development, and for all those invested in re-shaping our ‘wild’ city futures.
