A group formed from AESOP’s Resilience and Risks Mitigation Strategies thematic group (RRMS, see more details below) is looking for members of the AESOP Young Academics (YA) network to collaborate on the ‘Climate Action in Planning Education and Practice’ project. This project is connected to similar work undertaken by researchers in other world regions (Australia, Canada, and USA) and will contribute to a World Urban Campaign ‘Urban Thinkers Campus’ on this topic in November 2021, that will also include activities and discussions on this issue.
Aim of the project: Urban Planning is recognised as a relevant instrument to address some of the many challenges associated with climate change. However, relatively little is known about the state of planning education and practice for climate related action in planning communities across different world regions. This project will undertake a review of how European Planning Schools are addressing climate change and climate action in their urban or spatial planning courses.
Method: We are looking for young practitioners to help us review higher education programmes delivered by Planning Schools in European countries (plus Turkey) listed on the AESOP "members directory" website. It consists in a desktop-based collection of online data from such programmes, and a survey of keywords regarding ‘climate change’ in their curricula, according to a research protocol we have defined. The data will be compiled using Epicollect5, a simple online survey platform and mobile app (you can see a sample survey in this link by clicking on the ‘eye’ icon).
Workload & timeline: You can evaluate as many programmes as you wish, even from different schools or countries (we anticipate that each programme can be assessed in less than an hour). Please note that the workload will be better defined after the application process, based on the number of collaborators and their time availability. In any case, we aim at collecting all the required data by the end of July 2021, starting as soon as you are available.
Benefits: This is a great opportunity to tackle an urgent topic and increase your professional and academic networking. You will be collaborating with a team from the Resilience and Risks Mitigation Strategies group – Prof. Cassidy Johnson (UCL), Prof. Dr. Richard Sliuzas (U. of Twente, lead of the RRMS), and Prof. Adriana Galderisi (Associate professor, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) along with Armando Caroca (UCL). Furthermore, this phase might be followed by a second, more in-depth review of the assessed programmes, in which you could also participate. Those who contribute could also be involved in analysing the data and in the preparation of reports and publications about this work. We envisage various ways for dissemination of the findings:
1) Working paper and journal publication
2) Contribution to the Urban Thinkers Campus on Planning education and climate action as part of the World Urban Campaign (Nov 2021) which will be co-organised by the RRMS, UN-HABITAT and others
3) Contributions to the Planners for Climate Action network and the World Planning Schools Conference in 2022.
Application: If you are interested in participating in our project or want to know more about it, please send us an expression of interest attaching a brief resume mentioning to which planning programme you are connected and what languages you speak to:
More details: http://aesop-youngacademics.net/uploads/aesop-call-presentation.pdf
Public information session: Monday, 28 June 2021, 12:30 CEST
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/launch-climate-action-in-planning-education-and-practice-tickets-158705547565
