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Planning Regional Reconstruction Amidst Conflict: Balancing Territorial Governance in (Post-)War Ukraine
Full text linkTransactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning • 9 (2025) 1–14This article analyses the challenges of regional reconstruction in scenarios of ongoing conflict and deepens the understanding of multivariate patterns of (post-)war spatial policymaking. Using a case study approach, it highlights cases where existing institutional structures at the territorial community (hromada) level cannot overcome all consequences of the war in Ukraine. The paper argues that aligning reconstruction measures with hromadas’ new functionalities, institutional capacity, levels of destruction, resilience, and subjectivity will maximise support for bottom-up initiatives while flexibly supplementing them with top-down approaches
Introducing Rural Planning: A new AESOP Thematic Group
No full textdisP – The Planning Review, Vol. 61, No. 3 (2025)The article introduces the newly established AESOP Thematic Group on Rural Planning, approved at the AESOP Heads of Schools meeting in Liverpool and formally launched at the AESOP Annual Congress in Istanbul in July 2025. The authors outline the conceptual foundations of contemporary rural planning, emphasizing the complexity, diversity and dynamic nature of rural places in the 21st century. The paper argues for the importance of rural scholarship within AESOP, highlighting emerging challenges such as counterurbanisation, climate-related risks, rural housing pressures, spatial justice, sustainability, and global socio-economic inequalities. It also summarizes the group’s initial discussions, future plans, workshop ambitions, and commitment to building an international and interdisciplinary community around rural planning.publishedVersio
Keynote 2 : Engaged Urban Pedagogy: reflecting on participatory practices & legitimacy in planning education
No full textvideo available at https://vimeo.com/1093806938In this keynote presentation, Dr. Lucy Natarajan (Associate Professor, University College London) reflected on themes of inclusion and legitimacy in planning education, drawing on insights from the co-edited book Engaged Pedagogy in Planning Education (with Michael Short). Her research focuses on the inclusion of publics and civil society in strategic planning processes, particularly in relation to major infrastructure and spatial plans.
The presentation introduced a conceptual framework based on participatory planning theory and critical pedagogy, developed through a collaborative research project and a teaching-focused conference track during the COVID-19 lockdown. The framework identifies three key domains of inclusive educational practice: curriculum review and design, teaching delivery, and embedding engagement beyond the classroom.
Natarajan emphasized the need to include diverse knowledges and non-academic perspectives in the design of planning programmes, highlighting examples where students and external stakeholders contributed to curriculum development. She addressed the challenges of navigating emotional and political sensitivities in classroom settings and advocated for teaching practices that are reflective, supportive, and inclusive of different social and cultural experiences.
The talk offered grounded insights into how planning education can better respond to issues of legitimacy, diversity, and co-production in both content and method
Editorial: plaNext and planning in transition (2015–2025)
Full text linkplaNext – Next Generation Planning, 15 (2025)This editorial introduces the special issue plaNext in Transition (2015–2025), marking the tenth anniversary of plaNext – Next Generation Planning. The authors reflect on how the journal and the planning discipline have evolved over the past decade amid major global shifts, including the climate emergency, movements for social and spatial justice, digitalisation, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
The editorial outlines the aims of the issue: to revisit the journal’s development, explore its future directions, and examine contemporary challenges in planning scholarship. It highlights contributions from senior scholars and early-career researchers, spanning themes such as ethical publishing, urban design pedagogy, critical and environmental planning theory, financialisation in urban development, socio-ecological approaches to Terrain Vague spaces, and the journal’s internal evolution in peer review and editorial practice.
The authors reaffirm plaNext’s mission as a community-driven platform supporting emerging scholars, promoting critical and inclusive planning debates, and experimenting with new forms of scholarly engagement as it enters its second decade.publishedVersio
Spatial Planning Beyond Algorithmic Logics: On the Benefits of Using Public Participation in the Creation of Spatial Plans in Ukraine
Full text linkTransactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2025), pp. 119–129.Ukraine is currently in a state of war and is experiencing significant demographic changes as well as shifts in residential living and the organisation of its industries. The impacts of the war will require the rebuilding of the country, and this presents opportunities to improve the living and working environment of Ukrainians while also introducing new sustainable solutions. There is a need to establish new strategies for spatial planning that include new technologies and broad public participation through the development of National Spatial Data Infrastructure. This paper explores the potential solutions, opportunities and risks of developing a new spatial planning approach in Ukraine.publishedVersio
FINAL REPORT – CAPSTONE PROJECT: Mapping Green Transition Initiatives and Housing Inequalities: A Double-Scale Approach between France and Europe
Full text linkThis capstone project explores the relationship between green transition initiatives and housing inequalities, adopting a comparative, double-scale approach between France and Europe. The research investigates how environmental sustainability goals—such as reducing carbon emissions, promoting energy-efficient housing, and implementing climate adaptation measures—intersect with issues of housing affordability, accessibility, and social equity. It highlights the risk that certain green policies, if not carefully designed, may exacerbate existing inequalities by increasing housing costs or displacing vulnerable populations.
The study combines an extensive literature review and policy analysis with qualitative fieldwork, including interviews and site visits in Paris, Milan, London, Orléans, and Sens. At the French scale, the report analyses national strategies and local pilot projects to understand how policies are translated into practice at the municipal level. At the European scale, it compares governance frameworks, policy instruments, and collaborative networks in order to identify patterns, best practices, and context-specific challenges.
Key findings show that while the green transition and housing justice share common objectives in fostering livable, inclusive, and sustainable cities, their integration is often fragmented. The project identifies enabling factors for stronger policy alignment, such as multi-level governance, cross-sector collaboration, community participation, and inclusive financing mechanisms. Conversely, it points to barriers such as insufficient regulatory coordination, market pressures, and the lack of targeted support for low-income households in sustainability-oriented urban renewal programs.
The report concludes with policy recommendations aimed at aligning environmental and social objectives, proposing frameworks for integrating green transition strategies with equitable housing policies across different governance levels. These recommendations emphasise stakeholder engagement, data-driven planning, and context-sensitive implementation to ensure that sustainability transitions contribute to reducing—rather than reinforcing—housing inequalities.published versio
Keynote 3 : Attention economics, artificial intelligence, and the future of the planning profession
Full text linkvideo available at: https://vimeo.com/1093808961In this key talk, Jonathan Metzger explores the rapidly evolving role of generative AI in urban and regional planning. Using the example of the Swedish AI assistant "Louvisa," Metzger argues that we are entering a new era in planning practice defined by the increasing delegation of cognitive tasks to machines. He proposes the concept of "synthetic competent attention" to understand AI's potential, drawing from the field of attention economics. Through a small experiment with a generative AI model (GPT), Metzger illustrates how current AI tools can already perform complex planning-related tasks at near-professional levels. However, he also warns about issues like AI hallucinations and the risk of increased labor market inequality. He concludes that planners and educators must act now to shape how AI is integrated into planning processes — not to replace planners, but to strengthen the profession by redirecting human attention to where it matters most
24. Landscapes of Elsewhere: On Borders, Practices and Approaches
Full text linkThis video documents the AESOP Lecture Landscapes of Elsewhere: On Borders, Practices and Approaches, held on 20 November 2025 at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano. The lecture brought together scholars working on territorial transformations in contested border regions and explored how landscapes—through their material, ecological, and temporal dimensions—actively participate in shaping borders and the institutions that govern them.
The session challenged dominant understandings of borders as purely political constructs imposed on passive territories, instead emphasising reciprocal dynamics between landscapes and bordering practices. Through three situated research contributions focusing on Iran–Afghanistan, South Caucasus, and Georgian–Russian border regions, the lecture examined non-human agencies, environmental traces of conflict, and methodological approaches to researching restricted and sensitive territories.
Due to the sensitivity of some materials, selected parts of the presentations have been removed from the publicly available video version
AESOP Head of Schools Meeting 2025 – Opening Session (Liverpool, 13 March 2025)
No full textFull video available at https://vimeo.com/1093805789This video documented the opening session of the AESOP Head of Schools Meeting, held on 13 March 2025 at the University of Liverpool. The session began with welcoming remarks by Olivier Sykes, followed by a keynote introduction by Doug Mayer, Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences. He presented the interdisciplinary structure of the school and emphasized the growing importance of planning in addressing complex environmental and societal challenges, such as climate change, urban regeneration, and social inequality.
Maria Håkansson, AESOP President, welcomed representatives from member schools and highlighted the significance of this annual meeting in fostering dialogue on planning education. The programme included keynote lectures, a presentation of the PlanEd project, the AESOP Quality Recognition Board report, and multiple breakout sessions addressing legitimacy, professionalism, and inclusivity in planning.
The event concluded with an invitation to two field tours exploring regeneration projects and soft densification in Liverpool and New Brighton, aimed at encouraging exchange and collaboration among planning educators across Europe
A Framework for Analysing Physical Form Outcomes of Value Capture Paths of Regeneration Projects in Residential Historic Areas
Full text linkGame changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, Paris, 8-12th July 2024This study develops a framework to analyse the impact of value capture paths on physical form outcomes in residential historic area regeneration projects. The framework, using four independent variables: adjusting property rights, changing use, increasing intensity, and improving quality, and five dependent variables: plot form, building type, number of building floors, building density, and setback distance, is applied to the XIAOXIHU historic area in Nanjing, China. The findings reveal that the same planning control conditions can yield different spatial form outcomes, largely explained by value capture paths. The framework is informative for both planning and policy design.
Keywords: Value Capture, Physical Form, Residential Historic Area, Regeneration Project residential historic areaspublished versio