Fig. 3: Exploring prototypical vignettes of temporally flexible urban planning processes.

We demonstrate how current planning timeframes (in grey circles) could be adjusted to leverage disruptions (in red), harmonize lifecycles of urban systems and enable forward-looking decisions for urban resilience. (a) In Option 1 (nested timeframes), we propose two nested plans for the same spatial scale. Under disruptions, the secondary timeframe (in green) offers the room to absorb changes or enable transformations by guiding adjustments in primary timeframes (in grey). It allows monitoring changes in systems with longer lifecycles, such as water or transport networks. (b) In Option 2 (Flexible timeframes), both timeframes are flexible and can evolve due to changing planning variables. The secondary timeframe (in green) allows consideration of the impacts of major endogenous lifecycles of long-lived urban systems and guides incremental decisions within each primary timeframe. Under possible disruptions (in red), both timeframes can adjust and re-align with changing objectives.