JDU #7 ‘To Earth’ – Opening Soon!

We are pleased to announce the forthcoming JDU Issue 7, themed To Earth.

In a world where planetary boundaries are breached and geopolitical trajectories are increasingly uncertain, the relationship between humans and Earth has become a contested and urgent domain. Global policies once framed as collective ambitions, safeguarding global commons, are shifting, fragmenting, or failing to translate into equitable spatial practices. Meanwhile, the watercycle–perhaps the most fundamental global commons we share–is under simultaneous ecological, economic, political, and cultural pressure.

This issue of the Journal of Delta Urbanism explores reciprocities: the relational fabric–and the space to navigate these relationships–between human and nature; between global governance and local design practices; between expert and situated knowledge; between utopia and dystopia; and explores the viable alternatives in between.

We gather contributions from vulnerable and rapidly transforming geographies, with special attention to the different epistemologies, Indigenous Peoples, and frontline communities.

Through reporting on projects, and practices, and through papers, dialogues, dictionary submissions, and documentaries, this issue aims to discuss bilateral and multilateral engagements, policies, local experiments, and the lived realities of communities navigating socio-ecological risks and opportunities. How can we focus on understanding and valuing, pausing our desire to govern or manage Earth? How do we learn with Earth, design with uncertainty, and move toward more equitable nature–human futures? With this issue we are looking for contributions on earth-realities, from the past, and envisioning earth-imaginaries, anchored in a justice centered to-earth future.

List of preferred topics for the contributions are:

• Transversal capacities of a design and equity, justice centered approach.
• Global policies and applications.
  • The arena in between, including the interface between policy and situated action, the space to navigate, the time and perspective for deliberation and re-valuation, to prevent dichotomic policies and applications.
• Practices and policies stemming from contextualized, place based systems understanding and valuation.
• Imagenaries including holistic, inclusive, longer term avenues towards common goals.
• Human-nature relations as hydrological, ecological, political, infrastructural, and epistemic.
• Institutional settings, and alternatives to anchor nature-human relations, away from hierarchy, racism and colonialism.