Based on the analysis of two field tests in the City of Vienna, this article describes the advantages and disadvantages of using an augmented reality app in participation processes. Using the results of an applied research project “ways2gether – target group-specific use of AR and web 2.0 in participative traffic planning processes”, the possibilities of implementing AR in planning and participation processes are discussed. The article points out that augmented reality tools expand the repertoire of methods used in participation procedures and that they have the potential to support many phases of a planning and participation process.

Adapting spatial development to the challenges of climate change is a major task facing cities. In particular, urban heat islands caused by increasing average temperatures and urban growth are a challenge for cities. The use of climate simulations to assess current and future urban heat stress is a helpful approach for supporting this transition. In particular, green and blue infrastructure helps to reduce the urban heat island effect. These cooling effects can be analysed using simulations. However, a central challenge is that urban adaptation to heat needs to be implemented consistently at different planning levels. A second major challenge in adaption is identifying the amount of urban green infrastructure required in order to achieve a specific cooling benefit and establishing this by means of planning instruments. This article presents two case studies in the city of Vienna to demonstrate how climate simulation tools can be used across different planning levels if they are standardized. When combined with a green and open space factor as a steering instrument, the necessary amount of greening for subsequent planning processes can be secured. The result is a multi-scale toolset consisting of three climate simulation models and a green and open space factor, coordinated, and standardised for use at different levels of planning.

Agroforestry is attracting considerable attention in Ethiopia because of its potential for sustainable land use practices. As land tenure insecurity is a major limiting factor for sustainable land use practices in Ethiopia and developing countries in general, the Ethiopian government launched a rural land certification program to secure land tenure. There are limited empirical studies about the impacts of land certification on sustainable land use practices. To fill this knowledge gap, this study was outlined for an area in the Ethiopian Gozamen district. It investigates the impact of land certification on sustainable land use practices and is focused on factors affecting tree plantation based on a household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations. The results of the study showed that the majority of the respondents practiced sustainable land use practices after their land was certified. Therefore, land certification has a great contribution on sustainable land use practices. In addition, age, consultancy, land size, education, and nurseries proved as significant factors for tree plantation. As access to land is a basic socio-economic precondition for sustainable agriculture and forestry in developing countries, tenure security is a key pathway for the development of the poor and it contributes essentially to achieve sustainable development goals.

The objective of this article is to emphasise the importance of integrating a gender perspective in the planning sciences to advance planning theories. We will first debate how gender issues are integrated into planning practice and theory today. At the beginning we refer to the article of Sandercock and Forsyth A gender agenda – new directions for planning theory (Sandercock, Forsyth 1992). We will deal with the question of how gender issues are received in the European mainstream of handbooks on planning theory. Furthermore, we will discuss why and how gender perspectives are to be integrated into planning to bridge the gap between gender-sensitive and mainstream approaches to planning theory. We outline why gender planning has to be an integrative planning approach by linking to the integrative approaches of Mitchell (2008, 2009) and Wilber (2001, 2011). In particular, we want to highlight that integrative thinking is a basic idea of gender planning. Furthermore, we describe how gender planning can be a catalyst for valuable integrative approaches in planning which, up to hitherto, have been less recognised than the mainstream approaches.