Abstract
Advancing towards urban futures in which both human communities and ecosystems can thrive requires transformative change (TC). Spatial planning can serve as a backbone for inspiring and fostering the desired transformation of cities. However, at least three key interrelated challenges exist for spatial planning to support this transformation: creating unconventional plans, accounting for the complex trade-offs and interactions of different scenarios, and facilitating participatory procedures. A promising approach for addressing the challenges is Geodesign as it couples spatial co-design with impact simulations. This paper aims to explore how, and with what effects, geodesign can support the co-creation of transformative urban plans. A geodesign process was developed and deployed for a case study neighborhood in Stockholm, Sweden. Fourteen planning stakeholders divided into three groups developed and explored the impacts of two alternative futures. The study findings indicate that the geodesign process enabled participants to develop transformative plans that address housing needs while also promoting biodiversity and ecosystem services through nature-based solutions. Participants showed high perceived desirability of TC but were mostly skeptical regarding the plausibility and probability of future implementation. The study findings also confirmed that Geodesign may provide effective planning support for managing ‘boundaries’ between knowledge holders, by integrating data and knowledge, and facilitating effective stakeholder collaboration. All geodesign steps enhanced communication by promoting discussions and collective reasoning, albeit to different degrees. Participants acknowledged contributions to knowledge co-production and decision-making by mediating between different perspectives and opinions. Data quality was identified as critically affecting perceived credibility. Reservations were expressed regarding the translation function. We recommend practical applications of geodesign to strategically involve key stakeholders throughout study conceptualization, scenario development, and model generation for better context consideration. Enhancing geodesign tools for user-friendliness is also crucial. Research should focus on scaling up collaborative geodesign for complex challenges in metropolitan and landscape planning.