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Item Open Access Navigating Change: Planning for Societal and Spatial Transformations : Debates during the 12th AESOP Young Academics Conference(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2018) Spijkerboer, Rozanne Charlotte; Forrest, Steven Ashley; Hilbers, Anne MarelThis article presents a reflective report on the 12th AESOP Young Academics Conference, held at the University of Groningen from 26–29 March 2018, under the theme “Navigating Change: Planning for Societal and Spatial Transformations.” The conference gathered over 50 participants from more than 30 universities and organizations across Europe and the USA. The central aim was to explore how planning disciplines are addressing dynamic societal and spatial changes—ranging from environmental shifts and political instability to population and technological transformations. The article organizes the insights into three recurring themes: Framing Change “Framing” emerged as a bridging concept connecting how changes are understood (analytically) and how responses are designed (normatively). Planners must balance imagination for the future with awareness of historical context and community experiences. Widening Roles of Planners, Policymakers, and Citizens Presenters emphasized growing citizen involvement in planning, decentralization of responsibilities, and the need for respectful, emotion-aware, inclusive engagement. Planning must now consider how citizen framing, experience, and networks shape outcomes. Power Relations in Change Processes Several contributions analyzed how planning may unintentionally reproduce social inequalities. Keynote and panel discussions stressed the need to regain public trust by ensuring fairness, empowerment, and shared ownership in planning decisions. The authors conclude that planners must reflect on their own role—as framers, facilitators, and respectful collaborators. Future research should consider whether current planning tools and policies reproduce old power dynamics and how planners can adapt to foster trust and inclusivity.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 AESOP Young Academics Special Edition Call for Abstracts(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2013) Driscoll, Patrick; Galland, DanielUrban planning has dramatically shifted when compared with its former logics and styles. Increasingly, the dynamics of large urban agglomerations spanning multiple boundaries put significant pressure on planning institutions to scale up. In this shifting context, how can both planning theory and practice coevolve in adapting to the ever-increasing transformation of cities and urban regions? In this context, Planning Practice and Research (PPR) is seeking perspectives from the young academic community in planning. We propose to publish at least one special edition of PPR with a number of short papers from Young Academics. The contributions should address the question of how planning theory and practice can respond to the increasing complexity of cities and regions. We are proposing shorter contributions so that we can include a wider range of perspectives. They may of course, point to longer explanations of research published elsewhere. Otherwise the papers will have to meet the normal expectations for publication in PPR. Young academics means researchers doing their PhD and up to 5 years after finishing their PhD and young practitioners with an academic interest.Item Restricted Differences and connections: beyond universal theories in planning, urban, and heritage studies(Routledge : Taylor and Francis Group, 2016)The annual Young Academics network of the Association of European School of Planning (AESOP YA) conference, entitled Differences and Connections, was held for the first time in a Southern Italian city, Palermo, Italy, during 23–26 March 2015. The call for papers attracted a wide range of authors within the field of planning and other related fields. Forty-five contributions by young academic scholars, representing 19 countries, were selected by the conference scientific committee to critically explore the themes of the conference. Over the last few decades, cities, societies, economies and institutional arrangements have experienced momentous changes, driven by globalisation, urbanisation, migration and mobility as well as totalitarian regimes, democratisation processes and insurgencies. Scholars in planning and other related fields have engaged diverse critical debates to make sense of these trends and their impacts on spatial planning and urban governance. Several postcolonial studies reveal (Chakrabarty 2000; Santos 2010) doubts about the capacity of mainstream and other universal theories to grasp and express the specific relationships that connect global trends with local characteristics. Studies on planning cultures (Sanyal 2005; Knieling and Othengrafen 2009; Getimis 2012) and the methodological approach of phronetic research (Flyvbjerg 2004) have stressed the importance of local contextual characterisations for the production of theory. Similar approaches in critical urban studies uncover the risk for building generalisations grounded in the study of a few global cities (Amin and Graham 1997; Robinson 2011).Publication Open Access Book of Abstracts of the18th AESOP Young Academics Conference “Bridging Gaps: Urban Planning for Coexistence”(AESOP, Politecnico di Milano, 2024)Urban planning as a discipline has been continuously evolving in the past decades, aiming to become the response to diverse issues through transdisciplinarity, innovation, creativity and justice. As a result of an ever-accelerating pace of life, we constantly witness worldwide transitions and turbulences, from environmental crises to socio-economic struggles, that challenge cities, regions, and the nature of the planning discipline itself. Climate change and both natural and man-made disasters render territories fragile and force humans and species to migrate, while the growing urban population requires solutions for sustainable transformation for life in the city and beyond. In this context of increasing uncertainty, the planning discipline attempts to suggest ways forward, yet often lacks in providing tangible examples of how to bridge theory and practice. Within this framework, the conference focuses on the predominant discontinuities that currently characterise the planning field. Those are articulated into two directions of discussion that are in dialogue with and between each other: the urban-rural divide (Track 1 and Track 2) and the academia-practice divide (Track 3 and Track 4). The conference aims to create space for these dialogues to emerge, and to ultimately bridge these gaps by reflecting on our role as researchers, on our position towards, and in relationship with, society and on the effectiveness of practice. The questions that arise are timely and crucial, contemplating on the complexities inherent in a perpetual endeavour for coexistence between humans, species and the environment (Track 5). How can planning reinvent itself? How can we reconcile a holistic perception of territories? Which theories, strategies and methods should planning adopt so as to contribute to a better future for the human and natural species? Which are the tools and practices that will ensure human well-being and coexistence with the world?Publication Open Access In Search of Well-Being in Liminality: No Longer-Not Yet(Yildiz Technical University, 2022) ALTINOK, Aysun; AYDIN, Enes; BAL, Şaziye; BİNGÖL, Hatice Buse; CAN, Deniz; CAN, Nilay Nida; ÇOBAN, Aybüke Balahun; DÖNER, Esin Duygu; DUTOĞLU, Taha; EFEOĞLU, Hulusi Eren; İBİŞOĞLU, Çiğdem; KARAGÖZ, Damla; KESİCİ, Neslişah; KIRPIK, Elif; ÖCEK, Rüya Erkan; SARI, Ayşegül; SAKAR, Begüm; ŞEVİK, Ebru; TÜRKEN, Araf ÖyküThe global situation influenced by the ongoing CoViD-19 pandemics and currently the aggression against Ukraine have significantly affected activities of AESOP Young Academics and nearly all traditional academic events. Implications have been either cancellation of numerous networking events or a drastic shift towards online and hybrid events. One could say that us, academics, have gotten used to it and it has become the ‘new normal’, however, it is clear that online participation can never fully supersede faceto- face contact. The YA Conference is one of the most important mediums of interaction for the network. This activity has been canceled in 2020, online in 2021 and will be a hybrid event this year, clearly showing the large difficulties we have been facing. We are very proud to have the 16th Young Academics Conference with the theme “In Search of Well-Being in Liminality: No Longer-Not Yet” taking place in Istanbul with the majority of participants joining in situ. It is an opportunity to meet new friends and old friends, discuss research and related topics and lead intellectually stimulating debates with peers as well as more senior colleagues from distinguished institutions. On the other hand, over the past two years, we have learned to utilize tools that accommodate online participation so that those who cannot join, can have a solid experience and advance their academic work. The conference theme is raising an ever more significant issue of wellbeing from the broadest point of view, including mental well-being. This is, luckily, becoming a serious debate topic as young academics are often struggling to keep up with their fellows and mental health issues have been neglected for many. This issue, together with others, such as peer-reviewing, will be further discussed during the Conference’s accompanying events.