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Urban planning has historically been shaped by the interplay of knowledge, power, and spirituality, yet modern governance prioritizes technocratic, market-driven models that reduce cities to economic and environmental metrics. The spiritual and ecological dimensions that once guided urban development through sacred landscapes, cosmological city designs, and community-based stewardship, have been increasingly marginalized by bureaucratic control, colonial expansion, and industrialization. While many communities maintain deep spiritual connections to their environment, contemporary planning often treats land as a commodity rather than a living entity with cultural and religious significance. This chapter traces the historical evolution of urban planning, from early civilizations that integrated spirituality and ecology into city-making to the dominance of functionalist, economic, and colonial planning paradigms. It explores how Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), originally designed to integrate sustainability into large-scale decision-making, can serve as a tool for reintroducing religious, Indigenous, and ethical environmental values into urban governance. However, SEA has traditionally focused on quantifiable sustainability metrics, often neglecting the intangible values of sacred landscapes and religious traditions. Through case studies, this chapter examines how SEA could benefit from AI to bridge the gap between spiritual worldviews and contemporary urban decision-making, ensuring that planning frameworks recognize diverse cultural and ethical values rather than solely economic and environmental priorities. Additionally, it explores how AI and digital tools can enhance SEA methodologies, enabling the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems, religious ethics, and community-driven ecological governance, providing socially inclusive and transparent frameworks for the inclusion of AI-generated tools and AI-generated knowledge, preventing the risk of neo-colonial AI-driven planning—or, ‘nAIcolonialism’.

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Strategic Environmental Assessment as a Policy Tool to Give Voice to Religious and Spiritual Views, and to Prevent ‘nAIcolonialism’ in Twenty-First Century Spatial Planning

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Umberto Baresi,
  • Alessio Russo

摘要

Urban planning has historically been shaped by the interplay of knowledge, power, and spirituality, yet modern governance prioritizes technocratic, market-driven models that reduce cities to economic and environmental metrics. The spiritual and ecological dimensions that once guided urban development through sacred landscapes, cosmological city designs, and community-based stewardship, have been increasingly marginalized by bureaucratic control, colonial expansion, and industrialization. While many communities maintain deep spiritual connections to their environment, contemporary planning often treats land as a commodity rather than a living entity with cultural and religious significance. This chapter traces the historical evolution of urban planning, from early civilizations that integrated spirituality and ecology into city-making to the dominance of functionalist, economic, and colonial planning paradigms. It explores how Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), originally designed to integrate sustainability into large-scale decision-making, can serve as a tool for reintroducing religious, Indigenous, and ethical environmental values into urban governance. However, SEA has traditionally focused on quantifiable sustainability metrics, often neglecting the intangible values of sacred landscapes and religious traditions. Through case studies, this chapter examines how SEA could benefit from AI to bridge the gap between spiritual worldviews and contemporary urban decision-making, ensuring that planning frameworks recognize diverse cultural and ethical values rather than solely economic and environmental priorities. Additionally, it explores how AI and digital tools can enhance SEA methodologies, enabling the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems, religious ethics, and community-driven ecological governance, providing socially inclusive and transparent frameworks for the inclusion of AI-generated tools and AI-generated knowledge, preventing the risk of neo-colonial AI-driven planning—or, ‘nAIcolonialism’.