Posted on November 16, 2025
Post categories: In the Media Research Urban Design & Planning
As cities set more ambitious climate goals, they are also reexamining how the places we build shape daily life. As conversations about embodied carbon and sustainable development grow, planners and policymakers are increasingly aware that land use decisions made today will influence how communities live, grow, and adapt for generations.
A new guide and workbook, Embodying Justice in the Built Environment: Just and Equitable Land Use Transitions, offers cities a practical framework for approaching these decisions with clarity and care. Created through a collaboration led by the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA), the resource invites cities to move beyond technical standards and metrics alone and instead engage with the values, histories, and lived experiences that define a place.
One of the guide’s authors is Assistant Professor Dylan Stevenson, a faculty member in the Department of Urban Design and Planning and of Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and Citizen Potawatomi Nation descent. Stevenson’s research examines how planning decisions and governance structures shape access, opportunity, and identity across generations.
“Unintended harms from past policies continue to affect communities, which makes acknowledging that history essential,” Stevenson said. “Repair is possible, and cities have practical pathways to do this work. Stronger relationships, real community input, and long-term thinking all lead to better outcomes. Justice and climate neutrality are not competing goals. Integrating them creates more effective and more equitable transitions.”
Stevenson notes that cities often feel unsure where to begin. The guide aims to show that this work is not unattainable. With reflection, collaboration, and clear frameworks, cities can reshape land transitions in ways that strengthen communities and support climate action.
A Story of Reinterpreting Land, Value, and Care
To help cities visualize how justice and climate goals can align, the guide includes practice stories that ground big ideas in real-world examples. One story, shaped by Stevenson’s research lens, focuses on Tribal Land Back arrangements and the powerful reframing they offer for how cities understand land use.
A Tribal Nation in California has inhabited its ancestral lands since time immemorial. Colonial forces and urbanization later violently displaced the community, including from an island that eventually came under municipal control. For years, the site remained underused, shaped by prior land uses that severely degraded the landscape and complicated decisions about its future.
Through years of dialogue and partnership, the city was able to restore the land to Tribal governance. What had once been considered an underutilized lot became a living space of renewal. Restoration work helped native species recover and remediate pollutants. Cultural and ceremonial practices could finally return. Over time, the space functioned as both a cultural anchor and an environmental asset, offering cooler temperatures, richer soils, and healthier habitat within the surrounding area.
For city planners observing the transition, the lesson was clear: when land is understood not simply as a commodity but as a relationship, new possibilities emerge for climate-resilient stewardship, cultural continuity, and long-term care. The site’s most valuable use was not tied to market return. Its value came from its ability to restore connections, support ecological health, and strengthen a community that had long been excluded from planning decisions.
This example encourages cities to rethink foundational assumptions. It shows how placing the land under Indigenous-led stewardship can be a pathway to repair, grounded in reciprocity and aligned with carbon-neutral futures. It also highlights the deep expertise Indigenous communities bring to land management and how two-way collaboration between cities and Tribal governments can create more just and sustainable outcomes.
As Stevenson notes, these shifts are not theoretical; they are the result of intentional choices rooted in mutual care. “This story shows what becomes possible when reciprocity guides land use decisions,” he said. “Returning land to Tribal Nations isn’t just symbolic. It opens pathways for cultural renewal and ecological care that benefit the entire community.”