The call for hosting the 2025 AESOP Congress is now open! All Full and Associate AESOP Member institutions are warmly encouraged to apply.
The extended deadline for the submission of bids is 20 March 2023.
The decision will be made by the Council of Representatives at the meeting which will take place during the AESOP 2023 Head of Schools meeting on 23 March, 2023.
The candidates must prepare a 10-minute presentation of their candidacy for the Council of Representatives.
The selected host will also be asked to present the concept of the Congress to the General Assembly, which will take place during the AESOP Congress in Lodz (July 2023).
AESOP Congress Organisation Guidelines
General rules of applying for the organisation of an AESOP event:
1. Candidate institutions should send in their proposals to the AESOP Secretariat General (
2. The Council of Representatives of AESOP, at the meeting following the proposal submission deadline, will examine the proposals and vote to select the future host.
3. Each candidate will be given a 10-minute time slot in the agenda of the Council of Representatives meeting to present the proposal. It is strongly recommended that the candidates use this opportunity to address the Representatives directly. If a candidate institution does not choose to present its proposal, it may settle for a paper submission or ask a member of the Council to do the presentation.
Information the candidates should provide:
1. Information about the University and School/Department/Faculty:
a) the profile of the University and the School/Department/Faculty, including details about contribution to planning research and planning education
b) the reasons for which the School/Department/Faculty wishes to organize the event,
c) the organisational and technical capacity of the University and School/Department/Faculty to handle the event
* joint applications are also welcomed, however both institutions need to be a AESOP Full or Associate Member. It is also stressed that there needs to be a lead institution driving the event.
if an applicant is a consortium, clear
statement about which partner will be the contract holder is necessary – Feedback from Maros
d) details about AESOP experience e.g. details about faculty members being a past track chair, session chair, etc; participation in previous congresses; faculty members served in AESOP office functions; etc.
e) the financial capability of the University and the School/Department/Faculty to support the event. A proposal for the price range of attendance fees should be supplied. It is to be noted that:
i) despite collecting the event entrance fees, certain payments may have to be made very early during the preparation process before the registration is open,
ii) AESOP will not be able to provide financial support in case the fees cover less than 100% of the budget,
iii) the host is responsible for local sponsorship and support.
2. Information about the location:
a) accessibility of the location and accommodation capacity at the location,
b) attractiveness of the location from the perspective of planners,
c) estimated cost of attending the event for participants (average accommodation, transport, etc.).
3. Information about the proposed Congress topic:
The congress topic should be both comprehensive and pertinent to contemporary planning issues. A short statement introducing the theme is expected.
The recent AESOP congresses had the following topics:
2010: Space is Luxury! (Helsinki)
2011: Planning in an Era of Global (Un)Certainty and Transformation (World Planning Schools Congress, Perth)
2012: Planning to Achieve/Planning to Avoid (Ankara)
2013: Planning for Resilient Cities and Regions (joint AESOP-ACSP Congress, Dublin),
2014: From Control to Co-Evolution (Utrecht-Delft)
2015: Definite Space – Fuzzy Responsibility (Prague)
2016: Global Crisis, Planning and Challenges to Spatial Justice in the North and in the South (World Planning Schools Congress, Rio de Janeiro)
2017: Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity: Fostering the European Dimension of Planning (Lisbon)
2018: Making Space for Hope (Gothenburg)
2019: Planning for Transition (Venice)
2020: Boundaries and Connections (Bristol) - cancelled
2021: WPSC (postponed to Bali 2022)
2022: Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice (Tartu)
Future topics are:
2023: Integrated Planning in a World of Turbulence (Lodz)
4. Information about the proposed topic, format and location of the AESOP PhD Workshop.
i) The PhD Workshop can be co-organised by another institution, which is also an AESOP member.
Candidate institutions need to be aware that:
1. The AESOP Congresses normally attract an audience of 500-800 people, and take place in the first half of July each year.
2. Prior to the pandemic more than 1.000 abstracts have been submitted for a congress. Since the pandemic 750 abstracts were submitted.
3. The selected candidate will be asked to sign a contract with AESOP, including full details of the organization of the congress. Part of the contract states that the hosting institution will forward to AESOP 10% of the congress fees, after the Congress. Generic contract is available here. Generic contract for PhD Workshop is available here. The contract will be required to be signed before the Heads of School meeting in 2024.
4. Attendance Fees: a maximum of 400 Euros can be charged for early bird registration for each participant associated with an AESOP member school and for AESOP individual members; a maximum of 200 Euros can be charged for early bird registration for each student associated with an AESOP member school. The maximum fees for late (or on-spot) registrations are respectively 450 and 250 Euros. Participants from member institutions who are located in a country with a lower GDP should be entitled to pay a lower registration fee.
5. The selected candidate will have to form a Local Organizing Committee and their representative will have to participate in several AESOP meetings two years before and one year after the Congress (for transfer of experience).
6. The selected candidate will have to secure with their institution the availability of the venue and support of the institution’s administration.
7. The mode of the congress has to be hybrid. The event needs to have separate in person and online sessions, but the keynote speech must be held in person and online.
8. The selected candidate will have to use the Conference Management System (CMS) used by AESOP. Congress abstracts are to be made available via Congress web site at the beginning of the Congress and a book of proceedings (including abstracts and authorized full papers) will need to be made available via Congress web site till the end of October 2025.
9. The selected candidate institution will be required to work very closely with the AESOP Conference Officer with regards to decision making on key elements such as the Keynote addresses, the tracks, track chairs, etc. and in the provision of regular progress reports to update Executive Committee of AESOP.
10. The selected candidate will have to organise PhD Workshop, on a topic which is related to the theme of the Congress. The candidate institution has to be aware that AESOP is only able to provide financial support for the PhD workshop to a limited extent and only if there is a shortfall.
The recent AESOP PhD Workshops took place in:
2010: Seili Island, Finland
2011: Kostelec nad Czernymi Lesy, Czech Republic
2012: Izmir, Turkey
2013: Belfast, Ireland
2014: Delft, Netherlands
2015: High Tatra, Slovakia
2016: Leuven, Belgium
2017: Aveiro, Portugal
2018: Karlskrona, Sweden
2019: Ferrara, Italy
2020: Birmingham, UK (cancelled)
2021: Bratislava, Slovakia
2022: Narva, Estonia
Practical information:
1. Applications are to be sent by email to the AESOP Secretariat General at
2. Accepted file formats:
a) text files: .docx, .doc, .rtf, .pdf
b) image files: .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .tiff, .pdf
c) video files: .mpeg, .mpg, .mpe, .mov, .wmv
3. The application will be included in the materials for the Council of Representatives meeting in the format sent to the Secretariat General.
4. In case the files are extremely large it is strongly recommended to send compressed files (.zip).
