This year, 37 papers were submitted to the award. From this submission the AESOP 2022 Congress track chairs and co-chairs nominated one paper (with one alternative). From these, AESOP’s Best Congress Paper Committee shortlisted the following three articles:
- 'Room for uncertainty in infrastructure planning. How continuous certification by decision makers results in more uncertainty', by Klaas Veenma, Wim Leendertse and Jos Arts (all from University of Groningen) - TRACK 5 - Governance
- 'Place Identities of Japanese Social Housing (Danchi): The role of urban design in creating a “place”' by Hanae Soma (Keio University) - TRACK 8 - Urban and Regional Design
- 'Towards a Topology of Planning Theories – Re-organising planning knowledge in the 21st century' by Meike Levin-Keitel* (TU Dortmund) and Lukas Behrend (TU Dortmund) - TRACK 14 - Planning Theory
The committee is delighted to announce that this year’s Best Congress Paper Award goes to:
'Towards a Topology of Planning Theories – Re-organising planning knowledge in the 21st century' by Meike Levin-Keitel* (TU Dortmund) and Lukas Behrend (TU Dortmund) - TRACK 14 - Planning Theory
This paper is a remarkable, fresh and original attempt to understand and systematize the vast landscape of contributions to planning theory. The authors use ontological and epistemological positioning of planning theories and apply categories of descriptive, analytical, normative, and prescriptive knowledge to create this topology. The paper takes a step further in the academic discourse which acknowledges the plurality of planning theories, but seldom makes a clear distinctions between them. The authors devise a kind of map of scientific knowledge with respect to spatial planning and theory. They claim that this kind of systematisation provides a better link of knowledge to actions by enhancing our understanding of the relationship between different planning theories and the knowledge they rely upon, as well as of the connection of spatial planning to other disciplines. This work is most relevant to current debates and useful for future research and as a teaching tool. The authors present a framework and potential pathways for much needed conversations about and elaboration of the scientific and practical value of planning theory.
All committee members wish to congratulate the authors on receiving this year’s award!
Each paper was reviewed by 2 BCPA committee members to whom the Chair of the Committee (Zorica Nedovic-Budic) and AESOP extend a huge thankyou for their involvement.
BCPA Committee members:
Zorica Nedovic Budic (University College Dublin) Sofia Morgado (University of Lisbon), Naja Marot (University of Ljubljana), Brendan Williams (University College Dublin), Enza Lissandrello (Aalborg University), Tijana Dabovic (University of Belgrade), Talia Margalith (Tel Aviv University), Jose Antunes Ferreira (Tecnico Lisboa), Sina Shahab (Cardiff University), Elisavet Thoidou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Javier Martinez (University of Twente), Izabela Mironovwicz (University of Gdańsk), Divya Leducq (University of Tours), Elena Pede (Politecnico di Torino), Nadia Caruso (Politecnico di Torino) and Ana Peric (ETH Zurich/University College Dublin).
