Hope and Agency in Urban Contexts

Hope and agency in urban contexts examine how individuals and communities envision and enact pathways toward desirable futures within complex city environments. Hope is understood not merely as an emotion but as a dynamic orientation encompassing goal setting, perceived pathways, and motivational force. Agency denotes the capacity of urban residents to navigate institutional structures, shape local environments, and mobilise collective action. Together, hope and agency underpin resilience, social transformation, and wellbeing in cities facing rapid change, inequality and environmental pressures.

Research has revealed that hopeful orientations foster adaptive capacity in contexts of precarity, enabling residents to reimagine marginal spaces and contest exclusionary policies. At the same time, agency emerges through both formal channels—such as participatory planning and community governance—and informal practices, including neighbour networks and grassroots activism. These processes are deeply intertwined: hope fuels sustained engagement, while exercised agency reinforces collective imaginaries of possibility. Empirical studies span neighbourhood revitalisation, informal settlement upgrading and climate adaptation, illustrating how hopeful agency can translate into tangible improvements in housing, mobility, public health and environmental justice.

Globally, practitioners and policymakers are increasingly recognising the value of cultivating hope and agency to support inclusive urban development. Interventions range from co-design workshops that empower marginalised groups to advocate for local infrastructure, to asset-based community development that builds on existing skills and social capital. By foregrounding the interplay of emotional orientation and practical capacity, the field offers a holistic framework for enhancing urban wellbeing and fostering sustainable futures.

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Hope and Agency in Urban Contexts publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in hope and agency in urban contexts across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Hope: A cognitive-affective orientation combining goal setting, perceived pathways and motivational agency toward future possibilities.

Agency: The capacity of individuals or groups to make intentional choices, mobilise resources and effect change within urban systems.

Informal settlement: Urban residential area characterised by irregular land tenure, limited state provision and self-built housing.

Participatory research: Collaborative inquiry involving community members as co-researchers to produce knowledge and inform action.

References

1. Hope, home and insecurity: Gendered labours of resilience among the urban poor of Metro Cebu, the Philippines. Environment and Planning D Society and Space (2020).
2. Hope as a practice in the face of existential crises: Resident‐activist research within and beyond the academy. Area (2024).
3. ‘When we put our thoughts and ideas together, policy makers are listening to us’: Hope-work and the potential of participatory research. The Sociological Review (2024).