Welcome to the blog of the Young Academics of the Association of the European Schools of Planning. It has a rich history. We welcome your contributions and you can find information on how to contribute and the guidelines here.
Cities don't forget. People are the ones who leave. Yet Tirana was never abandoned. It remained full of people, but somehow, it emptied itself. Houses gave way to towers. Courtyards became parking lots. Narrow streets disappeared beneath asphalt, and memory was buried under glass and concrete. Here, people never left. They simply kept remaking the ...
In urban planning, we often speak about making cities more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, walkable, green, smart, or liveable. These are important ambitions. They help us name the pressures cities face and the responsibilities planners carry. Yet they can also make the city sound like a technical system waiting to be corrected. If emissions are...
Green infrastructure in a transboundary context Green infrastructure is increasingly recognised as a key approach to addressing climate change across Southern Europe. By integrating a network of green spaces that provide ecosystem services and nature-based solutions into territorial planning, it is possible to enhance climate resilience, restore bi...
Abstract By 2050, Africa's population is expected to reach 2.2 billion, and two out of every three Africans will reside in cities, accounting for 80% of this development[1]. Particularly in Eastern Africa, following the economic boom, cities are also growing. There are several studies on this city and urban area growth, from socioeconomic shifts an...
Greetings from sunny Finland, the host country of this year's World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC). As a warm-up to the congress and its host country, in this post I'll provide an overview of current debates in Finnish planning. In Finland, we have a three-tier planning system: national, regional, and local. In this hierarchy, municipalities...
I came to my PhD topic, the ethics of architecture, through a slightly winding route. My academic background is in political science and political theory, with a particular interest in democratic theory and applied ethics. Within that broad field, however, I found myself drawn to a fairly narrow question: how do democratic societies relate, normati...
Collaborative housing (CH) is a commonly used umbrella term for all housing projects with at least some degree of collaboration between residents. Collaboration may refer to common ownership, building and design, activities, shared spaces, and more. Every project is unique. Some have individual apartments but lots of common space on-site, such as c...
On Emotional Mapping, Spatial Identity, and Urban Memory Cities are often explained through drawings. Maps, boundaries, planning notes, legends. The language of planning naturally relies on what is visible, because what can be seen can also be measured, classified, and managed. Yet living in a city does not unfold with the same clarity. In some str...
Can tactical urbanism and open squares, like Milan's vibrant NoLo pop-ups, quickly turn car-choked streets into lively, equitable public spaces to solve today's urban issues? The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and intensified underlying spatial inequalities in metropolitan areas. Cities have become defined by fragmented, neglected public spaces, uneven ...
By Tiernan FitzLarkin Introduction The launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in 2022 arguably marked the beginning of a new era that has extended far beyond the technology sector. The platform amassed over 100 million users within months of its launch, propelling AI into professional and personal settings everywhere. While AI itself is not a recen...
Author: Başak Suvakçı I. Living on the Fault Line Turkey has always lived alongside earthquakes. Since 1999, the country has endured five major tremors exceeding magnitude 7.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): the İzmit and Düzce earthquakes of 1999 (Mw 7.6 / 7.2), the Van earthquake of 2011 (Mw 7.1), the İzmir earthquake of 20...
Authors: Helen Nuo XU and Gehry Guo CUI Rethinking urban village regeneration: from a 'project' to a 'process' Speed is often the most striking impression many have of China's incredibly rapid urban development over the past four decades. An example is the 200,000 m2 Wanda Shopping Plaza, which can be completed from architectural design t...
Authors: Helen Nuo XU and Gehry Guo CUI Urban villages emerged as a direct result of rapid urbanization when farmlands were purchased for green new development, leaving villages surrounded by modern high-rises. They are usually densely built and populated, accommodating migrants with low rent price and proximity to jobs and urban activit...
Authoritarian populist regimes have no use for technocrats who purport to serve the public good in the name of rationality. Where does that leave planners? Planners, like all technocrats, draw their authority from their specialized knowledge. Whether in government or the private sector, planners' know-how, experience and expertise is what gives the...
Why is the civic role of universities relevant in developing better learning environments to achieve effective urban alternatives? This reflection is based on my Ph.D. thesis titled, Universities as Potential Social Agents in the Urban Regeneration of Fragile Local Communities: A Mutual Learning Process. As I embark on this reflection, it is c...
This blog post tells the story of community-led tree-planting activities and youths' efforts in Mlango Kubwa, Mathare, to transform their neighborhood into one that is more conducive to and life-supporting for future generations. Mathare residential area is in Mathare Valley, Nairobi. Mathare is Kenya's second largest informal settlement, home...
This is the second part of our interview with two scholars who research what makes cities beautiful. If you missed part one, you can read it here. Some research on "beautiful cities" has emphasized the economic premium placed on built environments considered particularly aesthetically pleasing. Is there a way to avoid a situati...
A conversation with two scholars about what makes cities beautiful, and the role of planning in creating beautiful human environments (or not). Aesthetics once played an indispensable role in city-making processes, as anyone who has ever visited a medieval Italian town or a Middle Eastern walled city can attest. These days, while aestheti...
A Review of Llerena Guiu Searle's Landscapes of Accumulation: Real Estate and the Neoliberal Imagination in Contemporary India By Meher Bhagia In the early 2000s, a new narrative about economic growth in India began circulating among real estate investors. This narrative muddled stories of rising land prices with accounts of growth in GDP, incomes,...
Dear fellow young academics, future CT members and friends, I am Ceren, an urban planner and postdoctoral researcher based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Since 2022, I have been an elected member of the Young Academics (YA) Coordination Team (CT), and since June 2023 I am the elected Chair of the YA network and AESOP ExCo member. I wanted to take a momen...
