THEMATIC GROUPS

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Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS

Category: Planning and Complexity

Published: 04 February 2025

THE DYNAMICS OF PANARCHY – 
Sensing, Planning and Designing grounded local-regional transformations

27-28 November 2025, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
23rd Meeting of the AESOP Thematic Group Planning and Complexity
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Planning and design often remain a hierarchical and linear process of planning, implementation and maintenance that meet with increasing political ambitions for inclusion, diversity and the critique of a technocratic agenda to spatial transformations. Initiatives in both practice and research constantly seek to combine both top-down and bottom-up approaches. For example, the recent missions of the European Union to strengthen innovation and development through a combination of overall political leadership and local implementation.

The connection between complexity science and spatial planning has, for at least the last 20 years, put the “the perspective of a world in flow, which feeds dissipative systems, through which these adapt and self-organize more or less continuously” (de Roo, 2018, p.28). However, few researchers and practitioners truly engage with the panarchic dynamic of complex adaptive systems and the theoretical and methodological implications – Non-hierarchical and mutual interaction, self-organization between actors, as well as structures and scales of transformation that follow (Gunderson & Holling, 2002). Furthermore, the transfer of a panarchic and adaptive model, developed for describing ecosystems, to describing social systems poses critical questions. Beside adaptation, how do we deal with sustaining a diversity of subsystems? and how do we counteract negative effects such as socio-spatial inequalities and an uneven geographic development?

We invite scholars and scholarly practitioners to contribute with research and initiatives that engage with the dynamics of local-regional spatial transformation and the relations between actors, sectors, levels and scales through the lens of complexity theory, and especially working with panarchy, self-organisation, and the non-hierarchical interaction and dynamics of multi-level planning. How can transformations be more effectively conceptualised theoretically, while being grounded in local-regional realities?

Three avenues are of interest:

• Designing is in itself an iterative practice between phases of speculation, assessment, and proposing. We are interested in initiatives and studies that engage with design thinking and design practices to move beyond predefined, and often stereotyped visions of sustainable and attractive urban and rural development.
• Planning tends to often be seen as a hierarchic and linear process of top-down decisions, regulations and governance. However, it is also a broad repertoire of practices that can create gaps and spaces. We are interested in research that critically engage in how planning can address uneven power relations and seeks radical inclusion and re-configurations that foster diversity and pluralism.
• Sensing faces challenges to embark in analyses and interpretation beyond predefined categories and spatial units, e.g. reproducing power relations and spatial configurations. We are interested in approaches that can re-frame our sensing of interdependencies between scales, and that critically analyse the local-regional dynamics of circular systems.

References

• de Roo, G. (2018). Ordering Principles in a Dynamic World of Change – On social complexity, transformation and the conditions for balancing purposeful interventions and spontaneous change. Progress in Planning, 125, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2017.04.002
• Gunderson, L. H., & Holling, C. S. (2002). Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Island Press.

Timeline and Call for Papers

• Call for abstracts will be sent out in March with expected submissions in late May 2025.
• Notice of acceptance: late June 2025.
• Conference in Gothenburg 27-28 November 2025.

Organisation and Contact

The event is organised by Nils Björling and the research area Urban and Regional Transformation at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden (local organising team 2025) together with Christian Lamker and Jenni Partanen (thematic group coordinators).

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Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS

Category: Urban Futures

Published: 27 January 2025

Up-coming soon: #AESOP TG Urban Futures - Online Workshop: Who says future? Acting subjects and the construction of futures. Join us in February - March - April to discuss with colleagues the perspectives on futuring in different contexts. For an overview of dates and speakers, see picture below. To register please follow the link provided here. For comments, please be in touch. More information will be provided closer to the event. Peter Ache and Thomas Machiels

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Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS

Category: Public Spaces and Urban Cultures

Published: 17 December 2024

(Re)producing everyday life
Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti No 1(2024)
edited by Chiara Belingardi, Gabriella Esposito De Vita, Stefania Ragozzino, Tihomir Viderman

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Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS

Category: Ethics, Values and Planning

Published: 09 December 2024

Is the 15-Minute City the Last Planning Utopia?

The AESOP TG on Ethics, Values, and Planning invites you to join an engaging online debate on the 15-Minute City, featuring Alain Bertaud, on Monday, January 20, 2025, from 5:00 to 6:30 PM (CET). 

The discussion will begin with an introductory presentation by the invited speaker, Alain Bertaud (have a look at his website: Link).

Then, an open debate will follow, where the audience is encouraged to participate actively.

 To prepare for the event, we suggest to: 

• Read the paper in advance (access it here: "15-Minute City by Alain Bertaud")

• Register for the event by completing this form. 

• Submit your questions in advance (either through the form or by sending us an email, by no later than January 17, 2025).

Due to limited capacity, make sure to secure your spot as soon as possible, and if you are unable to attend, please let us know by email.

 Contacts:

• Busra Ince: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Brett Allen Slack: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.