IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

This paper investigates the future of urban infrastructures and services under the dual challenges of climate change and cultural acceleration through the lens of design research. Employing theoretical perspectives from insurgent urbanism as an approach to infrastructure deployment, this study proposes a framework for designing lightweight, adaptive and ecologically benign urban systems tailored for climate adaptation. These systems are nested and mutable, prioritising decentralisation and leveraging peer-to-peer practices and models of platform capitalism emerging in both the global North and South. The research integrates architectural theory and urban anthropology to contrast informal systems of food, water and energy provision with resource-intensive, large-scale legacy infrastructures. By critically examining the dynamics of peer-to-peer practices, this paper moves beyond centralised, homogenous approaches to urban service delivery. Instead, it highlights foundational principles such as citizen agency and community wealth building as mechanisms for redistributing urban power and fostering urban resilience. Central to this inquiry is a redefinition of architecture’s role within a decentralised and adaptive urban paradigm. The paper advocates a transition from centralised planning toward systemic, ‘lightweight’ operational strategies that prioritize distributed, context-sensitive interventions. This reframing challenges conventional notions of infrastructure as solely engineered for efficiency. By advancing a vision of climate-adaptive urbanism, this study positions urban services and infrastructures as catalysts for equitable and sustainable urban futures. It calls for integrated design strategies to create inclusive, versatile and climate-resilient urban systems capable of addressing the demands of an accelerated and uncertain world.