AESOP IIT DELHI SOPP - UCL BSP WORKSHOP, 2026
for PhD candidates, Post-doctoral and Early-Career researchers
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON PLANNING INDUSTRIAL SPATIAL CONFIGURATIONS
Association of European Schools of Planning, Young Academics Network
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, School of Public Policy
University College London, Bartlett School of Planning
Format: Online · No Registration Fee
Dates: 7-9 July 2026
AGENDA
IIT Delhi, UCL and the AESOP’s Global South & East thematic group, invite PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career researchers (within 7 years of PhD) to participate in a three-day online workshopdesigned to:
- Provide feedback on research in progress
- Offer mentoring by senior planning scholars
- Facilitate international dialogue across India, Europe and other regions
- Create opportunities to interact with journal editors from leading journals
- Build collaborative networks among emerging scholars working on industrial development and spatial planning
THEME
Industrial spatial configuration (such as corridors, clusters, zones etc.) and related spatial policies are increasingly central to development strategies worldwide. They reshape regional economies, reconfigure land and labour geographies, influence infrastructure investment, and raise critical questions about governance, equity, environmental change, and long-term sustainability. The trajectory of theories and concepts related to industrial spatial configurations, from Marshall’s idea of ‘industrial districts’ (19th century), to ‘growth centres’ (mid 20th century), to growth poles (1960s), to ‘corridors’ (mid 20th century onwards), SEZs (1970s onwards), ‘clusters’ (1990s), and ‘urban innovation hubs (or districts)’ (21st century), has been dominated by cases and policies of major industrial countries of the global north (with the notable exception of China’s SEZs).
Industrialization in the global south, using theories from the north, has had mixed results. Industrialization was often misinterpreted as a guarantor of modernization, development, growth, and prosperity. This view did not fully appreciate the role of infrastructure and institutions, in fostering and sustaining industrial development. In India many spatial configurations have been attempted, but most of these tried to recreate the configurations without closely examining whether the underlying assumptions were valid in the local context.
As India (along with other parts of the world) looks towards an era of ‘industrial corridors’, this is an opportune moment to revisit the question of what it takes to successfully industrialize within local political and socio-spatial contexts. The workshop welcomes papers that make conceptual, empirical and methodological contributions, by studying industrial spatial configurations and the contextual factors that are important to their development. The papers may respond to the following themes.
1. Spatial Planning and Territorial Strategy
- National, regional and inter-regional spatial strategies
- Integration of industrial priorities within spatial planning, and spatial regulatory tools
- Transformations in settlement patterns
2. Governance and Institutions
- Multi-level governance arrangements—across national, regional and local scales
- Institutional roles, mandates and coordination among various authorities and agencies
- Decision-making and stakeholder engagement
3. Environment and Equity
- Displacement and compensation, processes of land acquisition
- Rural-to-urban transformations, impacts on agriculture
- Ecological impacts of spatial transformations
- Approaches to environmental regulations
4. Labour Geographies
- Shifts in value-chain organisation across regions and globally
- Worker-centric location decisions
- Informal enterprises within formal industrial development
- Labour mobility, migration, skills formation and everyday working conditions
IMPORTANT DATES
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 6 April, 2026
Acceptance notifications: 4 May, 2026
Event held online: 7-9 July 2026
ELIGIBILITY
Open to all PhD Candidates, Postdoctoral Researchers, and Early-Career Researchers (within 7 years of PhD), from across the world with suitable abstracts that fit to the theme. Selected participants will required to provide endorsement from a supervisor or employer.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
https://aesop-planning.eu/476a4dde-a362-4602-90b1-d8daa5e7a7ea" alt="A qr code on a blue background AI-generated content may be incorrect." width="79" height="79" />Send your submission to the organising team in the MS Teams form at this link or QR code).
Individual Details and Abstract Submission – Fill out form
For any queries, please email:
Click here: AESOP_IITD-UCL_Workshop_CfA_-_January2026.pdf
