The call for hosting the 2027 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, 2025.
The decision will be made by the Council of Representatives at the meeting in Liverpool on March 12th, 2025.
The candidates will be kindly asked to prepare a 10-minute presentation for the Council of Representatives.
The selected host will be asked to present the concept of the Congress to the General Assembly, which will take place during the AESOP Congress in Istanbul, Turkey (July 2025).
AESOP Congress Organisation Guidelines
General rules of applying for the organisation of an AESOP event:
- Candidate institutions should send in their proposals to the AESOP Secretariat General (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) in the form of a note of 4 to 8 pages by the given deadline. - The Council of Representatives of the AESOP, at the meeting following the proposal submission deadline, will examine the proposals and vote to select the future host.
- 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:
- the profile of the University and the School/Department/Faculty, including details about contribution to planning research and planning education,
- the reasons for which the School/Department/Faculty wishes to organize the event,
- the organisational capacity of the University and School/Department/Faculty to handle the event,
- 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.
- 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:
- despite collecting the event entrance fees, certain payments may have to be made very early during the preparation process before the registration is open,
- AESOP is not able to provide financial support in case that the fees cover less than 100% of the budget,
- the host is responsible for local sponsorship and support.
2. Information about the location:
- accessibility of the location and accommodation capacity at the location,
- attractiveness of the location from the perspective of planners,
- 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:
- 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: Partner in Planning for people, peace and the planet - WPSC
- 2022: Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice (Estonia)
- 2023: Integrated Planning in the Context of Global Turbulence (Lodz)
- 2024: Game Changer? Planning For Just and Sustainable Urban Regions (Paris)
- 2025: Planning as a Transformative Action in an Age of Planetary Crisis (Istanbul)
4. Information about the proposed topic, format and location of the AESOP PhD Workshop, that must be organised the week before the congress. The PhD Workshop can be co-organised by another institution, which is also an AESOP member.
Candidate institutions need to be aware that:
- The AESOP Congresses normally attract an audience of 800-1000 people and take place in the first half of July each year.
- Recently more than 1.500 abstracts have been submitted for a congress.
- 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 2026.
- Attendance Fees will be subject to negotiation with the AESOP ExCo. They should be organised into various categories (see p. 31 and 32 of the Generic contract format), differentiate between early bird and late registration. Participants from member institutions who are located in a country with a lower GDP should be entitled to pay a lower registration fee. Early bird student fee should not exceed 300€ (200€ for students coming from institution located in country with lower GDP).
- 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).
- The selected candidate will have to secure with their institution the availability of the venue and support of the institution’s administration.
- The selected candidate will have to use the AESOP Website and Conference Management System (CMS), in so doing liasoning with AESOP IT Manager. Congress abstracts are to be made available via Congress web site at the beginning of the Congress and book of proceedings (including abstracts and authorized full papers) to be made available via Congress web site till the end of October 2027 at the latest.
- 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.
- The Congress website and the call for abstracts should be ready for launch during October 2026.
- The selected candidate will have to organise PhD Workshop, on a topic which is related to the theme of the Congress.
The recent AESOP PhD Workshops took place in:
- 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
- 2021: Bratislava, Slovakia
- 2022: Narva, Estonia
- 2023: Poznan, Poland
- 2024: Grenoble, France
- 2025: Istanbul, Turkey
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).
