AESOP newsletter - March 2026

AESOP extends its sincere appreciation to the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) for hosting the 20th AESOP Heads of Schools Meeting, held on 13 March 2026 at the NMBU campus in Ås. The event brought together planning school leaders, scholars and practitioners from across Europe, both in person and online, to engage in discussions on current challenges and future directions in planning education.

The meeting opened with welcoming remarks from the Heads of Schools of …

 

We are delighted to announce that the keynote sessions from the AESOP Heads of Schools Meeting 2026 in Ås are now accessible online.

Held on 13 March 2026 at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), the meeting featured two insightful keynote contributions addressing key challenges for planning education and practice:

Andrea Frank – Planning - Leadership in the Age of Supercomplexity?

Siri Eriksen – Can climate resilient development be transformative? The politics of…

The right to elect new National Representatives rests with the AESOP Full Members in each country. If you are interested in joining the CoRep, please contact your current National Representative directly.

Please find below the information regarding the…

AESOP is pleased to invite its member schools to apply to host the 21st AESOP Heads of Schools Meeting, which will take place in Spring 2027.

Deadline for applications: 19 June 2026

Applications to be sent to the AESOP General Secretariat (secretariat@aesop-planning.eu) 

Application dossiers should include:

(a) Information about the hosting institution:

• Educational and research profile
• Organisational capacity to host the event
• Potential collaboration with local stakeholders…

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 academic community, but also a wider…

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, elections for the next Secretary General will…

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 current experiences with AI integration across…

Planning for publics: Reconceptualising the governance of the commons in relation to the margins

Worldwide cities and planners are struggling to find effective ways to manage resources and involve local communities, especially in the margins, in the effort to provide just and sustainable living environments. Within this state, we propose revisiting the commons, with the emphasis on the commoning as a process. 

This special issue examines planning for the commons by…

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 scholars and new voices in spatial planning. Ten years…

In March 2026, the AESOP Young Academics Network organised its annual conference at the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague, and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. Following the conference, we open a call for abstracts for a special issue targeting both participants of the conference and the wider academic community.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Special Issue for the 20th AESOP Young Academics Conference 2026 “Urban Interactions Revisited – Bridging…

The workshop Planning Education in the Age of AI took place at RWTH Aachen University on 23 January 2026. The event was jointly organised by the AESOP Planning Education Thematic Group (Andrea Frank and Juliana Martins) and RWTH Aachen University (Fabio Bayro Kaiser).

The workshop featured thought-provoking presentations from practitioners, researchers and educators, alongside a dedicated space for in-depth discussion and collective reflection among participants. Drawing on…

CALL FOR PAPERS

Complexity Unpacked: Analytical Tools & Practical Insights for Uncertain Futures

24th Conference of the AESOP Thematic Group on Planning and Complexity

Location:         University of Nicosia, Department of Architecture, Cyprus
Date:               8–9 January 2027

[ Download Call for Papers as PDF ]

Planning operates within, and as part of, complex socio-spatial systems. Cities and regions are not merely objects of intervention but evolving, relational, and…

After about ten years of activities, the AESOP Planning/Conflict thematic group launches a

call for applications to become involved in the TG’s coordination.

Envisioned is the establishment of a coordination committee in charge of the TG and of its activities,

composed of:

- one co-coordinator, particularly in charge of relations with AESOP,

- two co-coordinators, particularly in charge tasks such as internal communication (TG website and relations with members) and external…

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 see…

Free Webinar: Affordable housing & just mobility 🚍🏘️

Housing affordability is often discussed in terms of rents, purchase prices, or construction costs. Yet an important component of the true cost of living is frequently overlooked: mobility.

Across Europe, the way neighbourhoods are designed — including parking requirements, car-oriented planning standards, and the distance to daily services — shapes how people move and how much they spend on transport. For many households…

 

EuroSun, initiated by ISES in 1996 and jointly organized with the  IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC), is held every two years in cities across Europe. Recent conferences took place in Limassol, Cyprus (2024), Kassel, Germany (2022), Rapperswil, Switzerland (2018) and Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2016).

EuroSun2026 will take place in Freiburg, Germany from 14 - 18 September 2026. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in collaboration with the Albe…

Submit a Manuscript to the Journal

International Planning Studies

For a Special Issue on

Making sense of actually existing metropolitan planning: practices, capacities and contemporary displacements

https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/making-sense-actually-existing-metropolitan-planning-practices-capacities-contemporary-displacements/ 

Timeline

May 31st, 2026 - deadline for sending abstracts to Guest Editors at E-mail: pabloelinbaum@conicet.gov.ar and giancarlo…

URBAN STUDIES ⦁ CALL FOR A NEW GENERATION 2026/2027

URBAN STUDIES, a postgraduate program at the University of Rijeka, has announced an open call for its third generation of participants!

URBAN STUDIES are postgraduate study program of spatial and strategic design of complex urban systems, phenomena and transformations enrolled in the artistic interdisciplinary field of Science and Art. Intended for everybody whose research or practice influences the built and programmed…

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 Urban (and…

Aalto University invites applications for an Assistant or Associate level professor in Spatial Landscape Analytics at Aalto University. The position is full time and it is shared between Aalto ARTS / Department of Architecture and Aalto ENG / Department of Built Environment.

The call is open until Thursday May 7, 2026.

The position will open on Sept. 1, 2027, or as agreed. For more information and link to the application form please visit: Professor in Spatial Landscape…