AESOP newsletter - January 2026

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 20th AESOP Heads of Schools Meeting, taking place from 11 to 14 March 2026 at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Ås, Norway.

This milestone edition will bring together heads of planning schools, academics, researchers, and practitioners to reflect on the future of planning education and research in an era...

 

AESOP is pleased to announce that the Call for Applications for the 2026 AESOP PhD Workshop is now open, following the launch of the workshop’s official website.

The 2026 AESOP PhD Workshop will take place 22–25 September 2026 at Drosendorf Castle (Austria) and is dedicated to doctoral researchers in planning, urban and regional studies.

We are pleased to...

World Planning Schools Congress 2026 in Helsinki/Espoo and WPSC PhD workshop in Tampere:
REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

You can now register for the World Planning Schools Congress 2026 in Helsinki/Espoo and theWPSC PhD workshop in Tampere via this link: https://app.eventos.fi/wpsc2026/website/registration

Until February 28th, you can benefit from the early bird price!

Browse the WPSC website to find information on mobile workshops,...

1. Introduction

The Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) invites applications for the position of Secretary General for the term 2027–2031.

According to the AESOP Charter, “Representing the Association and managing its current affairs (...) shall be delegated to the President and the Secretary General.”

The current mandate of the Secretary General runs from August 2023 to July 2027. In accordance with the Charter,...

The call for hosting the 2028 AESOP Congress is now open. All Full and Associate AESOP Member institutions are warmly encouraged to apply.

The deadline for the submission of the bids is February 27th, 2026. 

The decision will be made by the Council of Representatives at the meeting in As (Norway) on March 12th, 2026. The candidates will be kindly asked to prepare a 10-minute presentation for the Council of Representatives.

The...

 AIM OF THE PRIZE

Teaching and capacity development in the field of spatial planning is one of the main activities of AESOP Member Schools. Thus, in 2002, AESOP introduced a prize (https://aesop-planning.eu/activities/awards/excellence-in-teaching-award ) to recognize and encourage Excellence in Teaching.

Through this award, AESOP celebrates and disseminates innovative practices in teaching in its Member Schools. The broad aim of the Prize is...

AESOP is looking for candidates willing to organise the AESOP Lecture Series in 2026. 

The application has to be from an Academic on behalf of an AESOP member institution.

The Lecture Series was initiated in 2012 as part of AESOP’s Silver Jubilee Year celebrations. Since then, a series of Lectures has been regularly organised with prominent ‘urban thinkers’, both academics and practitioners. The idea has been to attract not only the local...

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Host the 21st AESOP Young Academics Conference in March 2027!

The Association of European Schools of Planning Young Academics (AESOP YA) Network is thrilled to announce the Call for Proposals to host the 21st AESOP YA Conference, set to take place in March 2027. This is your chance to bring an exciting and impactful event to your institution and join a tradition of fostering international collaboration, knowledge exchange, and academic...

Over the past decade, plaNext – Planning for the Next Generation has grown into a platform for innovative, interdisciplinary, and future-oriented research in spatial planning and regional development. This special issue is both a celebration and a reflection, capturing the transitions that have shaped the field — and the journal — from 2015 to 2025.

The plaNext was born in 2015 to create a dedicated platform for emerging...

The XII international Conference of the Sustainable Food Planning TG will be hosted by the University Iuav of Venice on October 21-24, 2026. The Conference "Strengthening the values of food in times and spaces of fragility" invites scholars, practitioners, activists, and policymakers to explore how food values are mobilised, negotiated, and transformed across spaces and scales of fragility. The call for papers will be launched in early February. Stay tuned!

Click here to...

AESOP IIT DELHI SOPP - UCL BSP WORKSHOP, 2026

for PhD candidates, Post-doctoral and Early-Career researchers

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON PLANNING INDUSTRIAL SPATIAL CONFIGURATIONS

Association of European Schools of Planning, Young Academics Network

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, School of Public Policy

University College London, Bartlett School of Planning

Format: Online · No Registration Fee
Dates:...

2026 ARL Congress | Cologne (“Maternushaus”) | 01 - 02 October 2026

Call for Abstracts

EUROPEAN REGIONAL POLICY IN TIMES OF TRANSITION

The ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association invites scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to submit abstracts for the upcoming ARL Congress 2026 on “European Regional Policy in Times of Transition”.

European regions are facing overlapping...

In cooperation with the Regional Studies Association (RSA) the ARL - Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association invites applications for the ARL International Summer School 2026, on “New perspectives on Urban Infrastructures.” The Summer School will take place from 8 to 10 July 2026 at the University of Amsterdam.

Urban and regional studies have...

Call for presentations or sessions 

Exploring Local Social Cohesion in Green and Just Transitions, 7-8 October, 2026 

Location: Leibniz University Hannover, Germany 

The Hannover Section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (www.fgz-risc.de/en) invites you to participate in the conference “Exploring Local Social Cohesion in Green and Just Transitions”. The conference aims to advance interdisciplinary discussion on the links between...

The University of Waterloo’s Climate Institute is hosting a virtual National Forum, “Designing Climate-Ready Education for the Next Generation of Professionals”. This online forum will explore what knowledge and skills students need most, and how we can teach in ways that cultivate hope, agency, and purposeful learning. 

Register for the full four-day virtual conference, then drop into the sessions that interest you—on...

The Instituto Universitario de Urbanística (University Institute of Urban Planning) has launched a call for chapters for a collective volume entitled “The deployment of the Spanish Urban (and Rural) Agenda: perspectives and challenges towards 2030,” which will be published as part of the new DOSSIER Ciudades series. This call, coordinated by Federico Camerin, aims to report on the progress, challenges, and critical elements of the implementation of the Spanish...

Special Issue Call for Papers

Urban Living Labs and New Epistemologies of Urban Design

in Urban Design International

https://link.springer.com/collections/fehceejgfa

Thematic framework

The Urban Living Labs (ULLs) indicate a deeper reconfiguration of how urban space is imagined and co-produced. Design practice is asked to create solutions for complex socio-spatial challenges, including climate change, structural transitions,...

Special Issue Call for Papers

Walking with Hope: Public Spaces for Wellbeing

We invite academics, practitioners, artists and all other interested contributors to submit full-length papers for a Special Issue of the international scholarly journal Urbani izziv / Urban Challenge (https://urbaniizziv.uirs.si/about). The Special Issue explores the vital relationship between the built environment, public spaces and human wellbeing through the interconnected...

The Editors Ela Babalık, Andrea I. Frank and Olivier Sykes and contributing authors are delighted to announce that the Routledge Companion to Comparative Planning will be published on 30 January 2026. 

This companion addresses a rich field of scholarship and practice, covering key debates around the purpose and value of comparison as a way of generating knowledge and theory within the planning discipline, and reflects on the place...