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Item Restricted A Narrative of the AESOP Quality Recognition Programme in the Field of Planning Education(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2017) Lo Piccolo, FrancescoThis article provides a detailed account of the development, goals, and implementation of the AESOP Quality Recognition Programme (QRP) in the field of planning education. Initiated during Francesco Lo Piccolo’s AESOP presidency (2014–2016), the programme emerged as a cooperative, non-competitive alternative to standard accreditation processes, aiming to support planning curricula across Europe in times of institutional, political, and economic uncertainty. Key goals included: Promoting pluralism and diversity in planning education. Offering a voluntary, supportive quality recognition process rather than a ranking system. Enhancing the European and international dimension of planning programmes. The programme was piloted with participation from 22 AESOP member schools. It introduced a recognition certificate based on the AESOP Core Curriculum and a school’s demonstrated commitment to European values and mobility. Feedback was largely positive, leading to the formal launch of a standard phase and the creation of the AESOP Excellence in Education Board to oversee and harmonize evaluations. Ultimately, the article advocates for a reflective and collaborative approach to quality assurance in planning education—one rooted in shared values, rather than bureaucratic competition.Item Restricted Potentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking for Planning: Debates during the 11th AESOP Young Academics Conference(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2017) Gilliard, Lukas; Wenner, Fabian; Lamker, Christian W.; Van den Berghe, Karel; Willems, Jannes J.This article reports on the 11th AESOP Young Academics Conference held in April 2017 at the Technical University of Munich, under the theme “Planning and Entrepreneurship – Planning and Public Policy at the Intersection of Top-down and Bottom-up Action.” The conference explored how planners can both support entrepreneurial ecosystems and benefit from adopting entrepreneurial thinking in their work. Key Themes and Findings Planning and Entrepreneurship – A False Dichotomy: Traditionally seen as opposites, planning (state-led, public good) and entrepreneurship (market-driven, profit-oriented) can be complementary. Planners can foster environments that support grassroots innovation and local economies, and they should adopt more flexible, entrepreneurial mindsets themselves. Three Main Aspects Discussed: Planning for Entrepreneurship: Creating conditions (e.g. infrastructure, policy support) that allow startups and local initiatives to thrive. Entrepreneurial Planning: A more market-driven, developer-led approach, which can marginalize public planning and reduce democratic accountability. Bridging Roles: Planners as social entrepreneurs, facilitators, and even “hackers” who disrupt old systems to enable inclusive and innovative change. Opportunities and Risks: Open data and digital tools (e.g. smart city platforms) can democratize planning but also risk empowering monopolistic private actors. Planners must adapt to emerging roles that balance technological, economic, and social shifts, avoiding marginalization by other professions (e.g. private consultants). Presentations and Discussions: Topics ranged from tactical urbanism and temporary uses of space to smart city critiques and planning support systems. Winning papers highlighted case studies from China, Spain, Austria, and Germany, addressing media influence, regeneration, and participatory planning tools. Recommendations for Future Planning Practice: Planning should evolve to support both top-down and bottom-up initiatives. Planners need better economic literacy, technological awareness, and social responsiveness. Interdisciplinary collaboration and a critical stance toward neoliberal urban development are vital. Conclusion The conference emphasized the need to rethink the roles of planners in an era shaped by entrepreneurship, digital innovation, and complex urban challenges. It advocated for a more integrated, activist, and adaptive planning profession capable of bridging public interest with entrepreneurial dynamism.Item Restricted Celebrating 30 Years of AESOP and Klaus Kunzmann’s 75th Birthday at the Annual Congress in Lisbon(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2017) Punho, PauloThe article reflects on the dual celebration at the 2017 AESOP Annual Congress in Lisbon: the 30th anniversary of AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) and the 75th birthday of Klaus Kunzmann, a founding member and the first President of AESOP. The congress theme, “Spaces of Dialogue for Places of Dignity: Fostering the European Dimension of Planning”, underscores the role of inclusive and socially sensitive urban planning in counteracting divisive political tendencies in Europe. The event featured multiple celebratory initiatives, including a special symbolic session and an exhibition of Kunzmann’s sketches, organized by João Cabral and Wang Fang. The article emphasizes the significance of planning education and transnational cooperation as means to strengthen European identity and resist nationalist regression. Keynote speakers included: Simin Davoudi (urban researcher and former AESOP President), José Manuel Viegas (transport policy expert and OECD figure), Joan Clos (former UN-Habitat Executive Director and Mayor of Barcelona), Viriato Soromenho Marques (philosopher and environmental advisor). The program featured 21 thematic tracks organized into six broader categories, covering topics from planning theory and inclusive cities to smart city policies and urban futures. A record-breaking number of abstract submissions (over 1200) and 25 proposed roundtables highlighted the congress’s scale and relevance. The article concludes by acknowledging the dedicated work of the Local Organizing Committee and the AESOP Executive Committee in making the event a success.Item Open Access A Giant Contribution to Global Planning Education : Klaus Kunzmann and the Founding of AESOP(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2017) Alterman, RachelleThe existence of a global academic identity for planning must not be taken for granted. If it weren’t for Klaus Kunzmann, there would have been no AESOP. And if it weren’t for AESOP, today’s global planning education institutions would have not emerged or, at best, have been greatly delayed. The vision that Klaus realized 30 years ago with the founding of AESOP has created a momentum with invaluable benefits not only for planning education, but for the citizen-clients of planning worldwide. Even though I was not representing any European school 1, I sensed that something very significant was in the offing; I therefore travelled to Amsterdam in 1987 to attend AESOP’s inauguration ceremony (and was the only non-European there). I have followed AESOP’s evolution and impact ever since. In this brief note, I would like to share with you what I have observed about AESOP’s contribution to the emergence of planning education globally. Unlike medicine or engineering, for example, planning is not a self-propelling global profession. Medical practitioners are dependent on knowledge transfer about dangers discovered, new medicines, or new technologies. In planning, the gains and losses due to knowledge transfer are more amorphous. In fact, planning has a built-in contradiction between the pull of localization and the push of globalization. On the one hand, planning is locally grounded both in its history and ideology: Historically, the planning profession emerged from local-national initiatives in a geographically fragmented process. Planning ideology seeks to enshrine locally specific “placemaking” as a valued norm. In each country, the planning profession is bounded by its own national and local legal frameworks, and it is embedded in specific socio-cultural and political contexts. The legal and political contexts differ greatly across countries, even when they might seem similar from a distance (Alterman 2017). At the same time, the planning profession cannot continue to serve its clients – the majority of humanity – without global knowledge exchange.Item Open Access Creating AESOP(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2017) Healey, PatsyAtlanta, Georgia, 1985. We are at the annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) in the US, both invited for a special session on developments in planning in Europe. Klaus Kunzmann was already well-known in regional development planning circles. I was only there as a substitute for Mike Batty, who had fallen ill with pneumonia. But both of us felt somewhat alien inside the huge hotel and conference complex, and outside in the centre of the city, where we seemed to be the only people, in our separate explorations, trying to discover the area on foot. It was in this challenging context that we came together. We were both excited by the intellectual energy evident at the ACSP event. Could such an arena be created in Europe, then vigorously building a transnational single market and encouraging professional interconnections? Could this be done not as a reproduction of the ACSP model, but in a distinctive and European way, infused with a deep awareness of the diversity of cultural, economic and political conditions across the continent? We knew that, in Europe, planning systems and practices, and education for these practices, had arisen in several different ways. In several countries, the architectural tradition dominated. In others, an engineering origin was more significant, while in eastern Europe, planning was often strongly linked to urban and regional economics (Rodriguez- Bachiller 1988; Frank 2006). We sought to recognise these different strands, while emphasising the focus on place and spatial relations, on urban and regional dynamics and environmental qualities. Both of us understood the planning field as about the interaction of people and places, and how to enhance place qualities for the benefit of ordinary citizens.