This report is a Master Thesis in urban planning concerning the complex situation
of planning for long-term urban development. The research conducts a critical case
study of the Lisbjerg development in Aarhus Municipality, Denmark, as the small town
is scheduled to grow from 800 citizens to 25.000 in the next 65 years. The case is
interesting when analysing how planning is to meet goals of sustainability and livability
in the future society. These goals are complex concepts that brings uncertainty to the
planning process, especially between the authority, the municipality, and the private
market, the developer. This relationship is highly relevant at the Lisbjerg development,
as the municipality is the landowner and sells to private developers.
This report is a research of how Aarhus Municipality is decreasing uncertainty for the
developers in the planning process, and in extension of that, the report becomes a
research of a changing planning profession. A planning profession that is under change
as it tries to adapt to the new complex situation through Strategic Spatial Planning
that are Complex Adaptive Systems and a new generation of planning tools that are
changing in function and use.