Spatial transformation holds a central role in addressing the multifaceted challenges of the 21st century, extending beyond the pressing concerns of climate change. The intricate interplay of ecological and social issues shapes the landscape of our future lifestyles, necessitating a profound shift towards sustainability. The spatial perspective emerges as a key protagonist in steering the transformation of cities and regions, energy and mobility systems, land usage, and the pervasive digitization across all facets of life. Embracing a socio-spatial lens in the pursuit of sustainability acknowledges that transformation processes are not only occurring within our living spaces but also shaping the conditions for future changes. Spatial planning has a great potential to play a pivotal role by addressing the complex dimensions of the built and unbuilt environment.

However, this transformative potential of spatial planning has not yet been fully exploited, many frameworks seem to be spatially blind. We are looking forward to analyzing and discussing the role of spatial planning in transformation processes. These research endeavors focus on diverse knowledge dimensions, spanning spatial system analyses, normative target knowledge, and transformation knowledge. This holistic perspective aims to understand how transformation processes can be collaboratively supported and developed by society, generating socially relevant knowledge.

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