ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Scientific Programme

Planning as a Transformative Action in an Age of Planetary Crisis.

As we gather in Istanbul—a city where East meets West, past meets future, and urban challenges and opportunities converge—we invite you to engage in critical conversations about the evolving role of planning in tackling the unprecedented challenges of our time.

The congress theme reflects the urgency of addressing planetary crises, including climate change, biodiversity loss, social inequalities, and resource depletion. At the heart of this crisis is a socio-economic system that continues to promote growth-oriented development and relies on unsustainable practices, reinforcing deep-seated inequalities and social exclusion.

In this age of planetary crisis, the time has come to move beyond the narrow focus on growth as a measure of success. It is critical to shift our thinking and adopt alternative approaches that prioritize the people and the planet.

POSTGROWTH URBANISM

Track 1

Looking “Beyond Growth” for Ecological Balance and Social Equity in Cities and Regions.

Chairs: Emrah Altınok, Istanbul Bilgi University // Shefali Nayak, HafenCity Universität // Barbara Pizzo, Sapienza Universita di Rome

Climate change, economic inequality, and resource depletion pose mounting challenges to cities and regions, prompting a reevaluation of conventional growth-driven development models and their ability to serve the common good. This session on "post-growth urbanism" examines settlements as integrated social-ecological systems, investigating how urban and regional areas can evolve beyond the demands of ceaseless economic, physical, and material expansion. Furthermore, it explores how their metabolisms can be reconfigured to sustain both ecological balance and social equity.

We solicit critical contributions from the potentially integrated perspectives of urban and regional planning, political ecology, and political economy, to envision a post-capitalist future, incorporating innovative critiques of the society-nature divide and drawing upon novel interpretations of the "metabolic rift."

Given that urban areas account for significant energy consumption and emissions, we will examine the role of cities and regions in restoring eco-social balance. We will discuss strategies for reducing environmental footprints beyond mainstream efficiency-oriented measures, integrating nature-based solutions, and fostering circular economies that regenerate rather than exploit ecosystems, including the necessity of "scaling-down" production and consumption, as advocated by de-growth proponents.

We seek contributions that address key planning questions, such as:

• How can planning tools be utilized to reshape housing, transportation, water, and energy systems to better align with community needs while fostering regenerative relationships between society and the environment?
• How can cities and regions be reimagined to offer more equitable resource distribution, inclusive governance, and improved access to public goods, particularly for geographically and socially marginalized communities?

Participants are expected to contribute to the post-growth debate by presenting novel theoretical and conceptual frameworks, cutting-edge case studies, practices, and innovative policy approaches from diverse global contexts, offering actionable insights and new modes of interdisciplinary collaboration between academia and industry that guide us towards models of eco-social integrity in a post-growth context.

Keywords: Cities and urbanism beyond growth; Degrowth; Social equity; Ecological balance

PLANNING AND LAW

Track 2

Law as a catalyst for change; Legal frameworks for planetary transformation and just transitions.

MOBILITY

Track 3

Planning for Inclusive, accessible, sustainable, innovative forms of urban mobility systems.

GOVERNANCE

Track 4

Institutions, actors and ideas crossing boundaries and enabling learning.

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE

Track 5

Sustainable cities and climate action: the role of planning in addressing the environmental and climate challenge.

URBAN CULTURES AND LIVED HERITAGE

Track 6

Transformative power of culture and heritage; Risks and threats on cultural landscapes.

INCLUSION

Track 7

Planning responses to shifting demographic landscape; Vulnerable populations; Political, natural and anthropogenic triggers of migration.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Track 8

Planning education responses to social, economic, and environmental challenges; Innovative pedagogical approaches, knowledge and skills.

URBAN FUTURES

Track 9

Changing mindset; Novel and innovative narratives for a equitable, and just future.

THEORIES

Track 10

Critical approaches to planning theory and practice.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Track 11

Emerging digital technologies, transformative planning, and spatial systems.

DISASTER-RESILIENT PLANNING

Track 12

Planning for the Unexpected; Disaster preparedness, management and recovery; Disaster-oriented urban solutions; Resilience and risk mitigation.

HOUSING AND SHELTER

Track 13

Planning for affordable housing; New models of living; Homelessness; Shelter for refuges and vulnerable population.

ETHICS, VALUES AND PLANNING

Track 14

Upholding justice in an age of crisis.

PROPERTY MARKET ACTORS

Track 15

Property market actors in shaping cities, challenges of financialization, policies and strategies to overcome multi-faceted crisis.

FOOD

Track 16

Planning for just and sustainable food systems; Food security; Food safety.

PUBLIC SPACE

Track 17

Transformative power of public spaces, Planning for Inclusion, Equity and Transformation.

TOURISM

Track 18

Overtourism, commodification of culture and nature, responsible tourism, regenerative tourism