Conference Agenda

This paper traces the emergence of territorial design as a distinct discourse and practice that repositions urban-landscape design from site-based form-making toward socio-ecological governance across scales. Drawing on a systematic review of scholarly literature (1960-2025), a practice survey (42 questionnaires with designers working in France), and three comparative case studies - Room for the River, Medellín’s social urbanism, and riverfront renaturation projects in Paris and Lyon - we show how ecological planning, landscape urbanism, and territorialist thought converge into methods that couple territorial diagnosis, morphological and biophysical patterning, and participatory co-design. The analysis foregrounds two fertile frictions: replicability vs. situatedness, and short political cycles vs. long ecological rhythms. We argue that territorial design extends the remit of design toward metabolic flows and governance interfaces, articulate a role typology - mediator, systems integrator, custodia -, and propose a triad of metrics - biodiversity, climate resilience, and habitability - to evaluate territorial transformations.