AESOP Digital Archive
Not a member yet
2915 research outputs found
Sort by
Foreword: A bright future for plaNext and the AESOP publishing platform
No full textplaNext – Next Generation Planning, 15 (2025)This foreword reflects on the significance of plaNext – Next Generation Planning achieving Scopus indexing in early 2025, situating this milestone within AESOP’s broader publishing ecosystem. The author reviews plaNext’s foundational mission to support early-career scholars, its evolution into a platform for innovative and inclusive planning scholarship, and its growing role in international dissemination.
The text places plaNext alongside AESOP’s other publication channels—Transactions of AESOP, the Conversations in Planning Theory and Practice booklet series, and the AESOP Digital Archive—emphasising their complementarity and collective contribution to a plural, open, and value-driven knowledge infrastructure.
It concludes by outlining a future vision for an integrated AESOP publishing platform rooted in openness, scholarly excellence, intergenerational collaboration, and a systemic approach to knowledge production and dissemination.publishedVersio
Editorial: Fixing Foundations, Building Resilience, Developing Capacity – Ukrainian Recovery Planning as a Part of the Common European Project
Full text linkTransactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning • 9 (2025) i–ivUkraine faces extreme wartime conditions, including destruction of housing, landscapes, infrastructure, and basic services. These challenges require coordinated recovery efforts comparable to Europe’s post-WWII reconstruction. Despite extensive debate on Ukraine’s rebuilding, the spatial planning dimension has received limited attention, though it is crucial for governance, land management, and EU alignment. This editorial introduces the themes of the 2024 symposium “Rebuilding a Place to Call Home,” highlighting governance for recovery, planning tools and digital instruments, and knowledge and learning. The contributions in this special issue examine urban resilience, spatial policy, landscape planning, planning education, and participation. Together, they outline key messages about the importance of integrated planning, environmental considerations, digitalisation, institutional capacity, coordination, public engagement, standardisation, legal reform, hybrid governance, and transferable lessons for post-conflict recovery.publishedVersio
Ethical publishing as resistance: Reflections from plaNext and the politics of knowledge and space
No full textplaNext – Next Generation Planning, 15 (2025)This article reflects on ten years of editorial experience with plaNext – Next Generation Planning, examining how ethical publishing can function as a form of resistance within structures shaped by inequality, colonial legacies, and systemic exclusions. Drawing on personal and collective experiences, the author explores the journal’s commitment to academic freedom, epistemic justice, decolonisation, and inclusivity.
The article discusses the development of plaNext’s voluntary and equity-driven publishing model, the introduction of half-blind peer review, and the creation of a justice-based ethical policy. It analyses the dilemmas faced when navigating politically sensitive submissions, the challenges of sustaining ethical commitments within institutional constraints, and the tensions arising from demands for indexing and professionalisation.
Ultimately, the article positions ethical publishing as an active, principled stance—one that seeks to challenge dominant academic norms, support marginalized voices, and reimagine scholarly communication as a space of accountability, solidarity, and transformative knowledge production.publishedVersio
Places Matter. Memories of Places Where I Met Patsy Healey
Full text linkPlanning Theory & Practice, 26 June 2025.In this deeply personal and reflective piece, Klaus R. Kunzmann pays tribute to the late Patsy Healey by recounting the many places where their paths crossed throughout decades of academic and professional collaboration. From Atlanta and Cappenberg to Vienna and Wooler, the article combines narrative, memory, and spatial symbolism to illustrate how places shaped their intellectual exchange and how Patsy Healey’s work and presence left an enduring mark on planning thought in Europe and beyond. Structured as a geographic and emotional journey, the article is both a eulogy and a creative homage, blending biography, planning history, and artistic inspiration.publishedVersio
Planning ahead: Toward a critical, environmental, just, and action-oriented planning theory, practice, and journal
Full text linkPlaNext, Issue 15 (2025)This essay contributes to the 10th Anniversary Special Issue of plaNext – Next Generation Planning by offering reflections and ideas for inspiring a renewed roadmap in planning theory and practice that more systematically incorporates tools and contents from emerging critical disciplines. It emphasizes the crucial contributions that young researchers and planners can make through their work, as well as the potential of a journal led by early-career scholars—such as plaNext—to shape the field.
The paper introduces the contemporary challenges facing planners within the context of the current global polycrisis—crises of the ecosystem, society, democracy, and knowledge. It links these crises to the urgent need for renewal in the field and a rethinking of how planning scholars and practitioners engage with societal transformation and existing inequities.
Drawing on emerging critical disciplines—including ecofeminism, disability studies, environmental justice, critical heritage studies, multispecies justice, and critical food studies—the paper explores how these theories bring an ecosystemic understanding of power, inequality, and injustice. It considers the extent to which these perspectives are already present in planning studies and the potential for their applied translation in planning practice.
Finally, the article outlines ideas for how plaNext could provide space for innovative theoretical development and support action- and justice-oriented work.publishedVersio
Head of Schools Meeting 2025 - AESOP QR Recognition
No full textvideo available at: https://vimeo.com/1093811516This presentation, delivered by Christopher Maidment during the AESOP Head of Schools Meeting 2025, outlines the goals, structure, and evolution of AESOP’s Quality Recognition (QR) program. Emphasizing a collaborative, reflective, and qualitative approach to assessing spatial planning education, the talk explains the 14 evaluation criteria used in the QR application process, including program distinctiveness, spatial justice, pedagogy, and innovation. Chris discusses the role of peer feedback, iterative evaluation, and dissemination of best practices, while also addressing the potential synergies between national accreditation systems and AESOP’s recognition process. The session concludes with contributions from other participants reflecting on the process as a tool for institutional self-assessment and improvement, reinforcing the value of QR as more than just a certificate—rather as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue and advancement in planning education across Europe
The Role of Landscape Planning in Local Spatial Planning: The First Ukrainian Experience
No full textTransactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning • 9 (2025) 57–72Landscape planning is now a mandatory element of local spatial planning in Ukraine. Introduced as part of recent planning reforms, it is now required in Comprehensive Spatial Development Plans for Hromadas. Based on the German methodological model, the Ukrainian approach has been adapted to local conditions. This article draws on the author’s practical experience to explore how landscape plans are developed and integrated into comprehensive plans. It provides examples from selected Hromadas, analyses how environmental objectives are reflected in final planning decisions, and discusses regulatory and practical challenges. The conclusions reveal key factors influencing integration, including legal clarity, data availability, coordination, and public engagement
Integrated Planning Approaches in higher Education - InPlanEd
No full textAt the AESOP Head of Schools Meeting 2025, Yannis Paraskevopoulos (Research Associate, National Technical University of Athens) presented the results of the InPlanEd project—an Erasmus+ initiative aiming to design and implement an integrated planning course at the master’s level. The course was collaboratively developed by a consortium of European partners, including AESOP, the University of Cyprus, Commonspace, and NUMENA, and piloted across two countries: Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.
The project addressed the need to embed four core pillars into planning education: urban planning, mobility planning, participatory planning, and evidence-based planning. Through extensive needs assessment, curriculum analysis, and skill gap identification—especially in soft skills—the team developed a comprehensive pedagogical framework for inclusive, people-centered, and climate-resilient planning.
Deliverables included a fully open online learning platform with multilingual resources, definition kits, lecture summaries, data sources, and case studies. The course emphasized collaborative learning, fieldwork, and digital accessibility. It also engaged students, practitioners, and educators in a shared learning experience that bridged academia and real-world urban challenges.
Papathanasiou emphasized the broader educational and scientific impact of the initiative, particularly in promoting integrated, transdisciplinary approaches to address pressing global issues such as climate change, spatial injustice, and the transformation of planning practice. The project also laid the groundwork for a lasting network of educators and institutions committed to advancing integrated planning across Europe and beyond
Smart Shrinkage for Mykolaiv? Sustainable Development in Stagnating and Shrinkage Scenarios
No full textTransactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning • 9 (2025) 48–56In Ukraine, with the Russian invasion that started in 2022 still ongoing, the issue of considering a controlled shrinking strategy has become increasingly urgent when looking at the possible population scenario identified by the Mykolaiv Masterplan. Rather than considering the best-case scenario, we must consider the worst-case and baseline scenarios of demographic change. Planning for stagnation and decline must be prioritised to reduce disparities and enable sustainable development. This paper presents possible demographic scenarios for Mykolaiv after the war, along with their socio-economic effects. It maps the geography of knowledge produced by smart shrinkage and reflects on leading causes, strategies, consequences, contradictions, and opportunities. The research questions addressed are whether and how these strategies can be applied to the mounting recovery challenges in Mykolaiv
plaNext in transition: A decade of young academic publishing in planning (2015–2025) – Insights and futures
No full textplaNext – Next Generation Planning, 15 (2025)This article reflects on the ten-year evolution of plaNext – Next Generation Planning, from its founding within the AESOP Young Academics Network to its emergence as a globally recognised, Scopus-indexed open-access journal. It examines the journal’s mission to support early-career researchers, promote inclusive and interdisciplinary planning scholarship, and challenge Eurocentric paradigms in spatial planning.
The author traces plaNext’s development across its themed volumes, highlighting its commitment to open access, equity, mentorship, and intellectual diversity. The article also analyses key challenges—such as reviewer scarcity, workload sustainability, geographical diversity, and financial limitations—and explores opportunities linked to digital publishing, interdisciplinary partnerships, and global outreach.
Looking ahead, the journal’s future agenda emphasises climate resilience, urban inequality, participatory technologies, and decolonial, justice-centred approaches to planning. As plaNext transitions to a new editorial board, the article positions the journal as a critical platform shaping the next generation of planning research and practice.publishedVersio