AESOP newsletter - February 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...

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

New deadline for the submission of the bids is March 6th, 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...

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,...

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,...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping spatial planning research, education, and practice worldwide — offering new opportunities but also raising important questions about skills, ethics, and academic approaches.

To explore how European planning schools are responding to these developments, the newly established AESOP Task Force on AI in Planning has launched an online survey among AESOP member institutions.

The aim is to map...

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...

TU Berlin, 30 September / 2 October 2025
DFG reference GZ: GU 1042/6-1

The conference
The AESOP Planning/Conflict thematic group conference titled Contested urban policy: breeding concrete utopias was held in Berlin between 30 September and 2 October 2025 at the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning, Building A. Information on the call and on the program is attached and is also available online at: https://www.tu.berlin/en/planningtheory/research-publications

The...

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:...

19 March 2026, 13.00-14.00 - online 

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...

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 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...