Special sessions

Here is a list of special sessions and roundtables taking place at the AESOP 2022 congress. These will appear in the programme shortly.

Special sessions:

1. Joint AESOP-ACSP Session:​ Social Equity, Public Health, and Land Policy: where are the connections?
FULLY ONLINE
The sponsor is the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Organisers: Ellis, Geraint (Queen's University Belfast); Nedovic-Budic, Zorica (University of Illinois; University College Dublin); Williams, Brendan (University College Dublin); Knaap, Gerrit (University of Maryland); Larsen, Larissa (University of Michigan)

Presentations (click here to read the abstracts):
1. Anna Sunding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.
2. Marta De Marchi. Iuav University of Venice, Italy.
3. Jeanne C. Versari Ferreira Sapata. Instituto dos Arquitetos do Brasil-Maringá-Paraná State; Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

This special session proposal is based on an international research initiative of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Cambridge, MA, USA) set to explore a conceptual framework that articulates how we can organize issues around planning, land development and equity to include health outcomes. The session explores how Land development policy and planning  directly impacts public health through urban design (housing quality, physical activity), the restriction of healthy lifestyle choices, environmental quality around air, water, and waste disposal, provision of transportation infrastructure, and the cumulative impacts that lead to health inequalities. The research aligns with The United Nations Human Settlements Programme’s Spatial Development Framework which provides a basis  to rethink physical planning and development concerns in  light of rapidly expanding cities and regions. The contributors will review existing conceptual frameworks, propose modifications or alterations, and ‘test’ their effectiveness in logically organizing land development and planning efforts towards the incorporation of health issues. A useful framework includes efforts that vary in scale from the neighborhood to the region and provides the flexibility to incorporate examples from more and less developed nations in ways that compare the substantive issues and challenge categories that may have lost meaning over time. Further contributions will examine a variety of policy directions evident in international practice and explore recent examples of the integration of health issues in planning and public policy. 

2. Joint AESOP-ACSP Session:​ Climate Justice in Practice - How Communities in Europe and America Plan to Address Climate Injustices
FULLY ONLINE

Organisers: Reckien, Diana (University of Twente); Butler, William (Florida State University); Alexander, Serena (San José State University)

Presentations (click here to read the abstracts):
1. Anton Rozhkov. University of Illinois Chicago, USA. "Analyzing Causal Loop Diagrams through the graph theory framework to identify key leverage points for sustainability in urban-rural systems in northeastern Illinois (USA)"
2. Sangwon Oh. Pusan National University, Korea. "A Study on the Adaptive Competency and Spatial Distribution of Vulnerable Groups in Heatwave Vulnerable Areas from the perspective of Environmental Justice"
3. Liza Powers. Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice, USA. "A Digital Curation of Vulnerability to Flood Fatalities in Harris County, TX"
4: Diana Reckien, D. (ITC)(University of Twente). "Equity and Justice Considerations of Local Climate Change Planning In 327 cities in Europe: (in)justice in the making?"  
5.  Serena Alexander (San José State University). "Integrated Action: Harmonizing Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Transportation and Land Use Planning in California Cities” during the paper session. 

Climate justice has become central to climate action planning practices around the world, since it is acknowledged that disadvantaged and frontline communities will suffer the worst consequences of the climate crisis. To address the causes and consequences of climate change, many communities across Europe and America have developed their own definitions of climate justice as well as unique strategies to protect vulnerable communities. The goal of this session is to assess and analyze innovative ways communities in Europe and America have defined climate justice, and developed and implemented strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. By comparing European and North American case studies, this session can help us understand the practice of climate justice planning from the perspective of professional planners and community activists. Examples of topics discussed in this session include, but are not limited to: strategies to safeguard equitable distribution of climate change burdens and planning benefits (i.e. distributional equity), innovative public engagement practices to ensure an inclusive, transparent and accessible climate planning process (i.e. procedural equity), and action to reverse past harms and dismantle existing structural systems, which cause low-income and minority communities to be disproportionately burdened by the global climate crisis (i.e. structural equity). Lessons learned can help planners define, develop and implement climate justice strategies. We invite scholars from both AESOP and ACSP member programs to submit abstracts that align with this topic.
KEYWORDS: Europe, North America, cities and local communities, local climate planning, climate change planning, practitioners

3. Dynamics of cultural and social innovation in contemporary city development

Organisers: Scaffidi, Federica, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Urban Design and PlanningTricarico, Luca, LUISS Business School; Daldanise, Gaia, CNR - National Research Council, IRISS - Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development 

Presenters (click here to read the abstracts):
1. Maria Cerreta; Ludovica La Rocca, Department of Architecture (DiARC), University of Naples Federico II . "The Co-Evaluation and Co-Design of Culture-led Strategies: The Play ReCH process"
2. Giovene di Girasole, Eleonora; Clemente, Massimo, IRISS -Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development, CNR -National Research Council. "Collaborative and Cooperative Cultural Heritage Valorization"
3. Ledo Marques, Andresa, Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Mackenzie University, São Paulo, Brazil(. "Re)activating urban dynamics: a place-based approach to promote socioeconomic development and environmental protection in the periphery of São Paulo, Brazil"
4. Pacchi, Carolina, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Polytechnic of Milan. "The dynamics of social innovation between higher education and neighbourhood regeneration.The Off-Campus project in NOLO, Milan"
5. Martina Massari, Francesca Sabatini, University of Bologna, Collaboration or cooptation? Local stances and global frameworks in the collective planning of the city
6. Massioni, Claudia, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Urban Design and Planning, Circular Strategies in Marche region

In a contemporary world stricken by a global pandemic, climate change, assets neglect, job loss and isolation, cultural and social innovation are becoming increasingly fundamental.  Social innovation, cultural heritage enhancement, creative enterprises are able to redesign sustainable, inclusive living spaces open to local and international cooperation, as also proposed by the New European Bauhaus framework. In this perspective, there is a need for new urban policies with a strong social and cultural impact, where creative regeneration processes and community spaces coexist in innovative organizational models with spin-offs in the urban, cultural, economic and social context.At the heart of the debate are initiatives that encourage collaborative processes, creative regeneration of neglected sites, innovative urban dynamics, place-based policies that address the issues of contemporary cities by adopting new socially innovative strategies. Indeed, social innovation encourages practices that respond to complex social problems by creating innovative solutions for the community, and enhancing the value of assets and urban spaces in the long term. Contemporary cities and under-utilised cultural heritage play a central role in this, as they provide the space for community participation, citizens’ involvement and builds social awareness which can trigger processes of re-appropriation, reactivation and development of city spaces.On the other hand, critical visions must also be considered: these identify social approaches as the production of selective dynamics that skim, omit and lie the soft power, a power able to shape people's perceptions through culture. A position that sometimes sees in the word “social” an elusive keyword of localist agendas functional to political and economic elites to promote a bottom-up economic regeneration. This special session welcomes multidisciplinary researches, with theoretical, methodological and empirical (qualitative and/or quantitative) approaches, addressing the role of cultural and social innovation in contemporary city development. Scholars, researchers and practitioners  are invited to present their contributions on one or more of the following topics:Social innovation, urban design and new urban dynamicsCreative urban regeneration and Cultural heritage enhancementCollaborative processes for urban regeneration: Co-design of community spaces and enterprisesSocial innovation in economic development and social place-based policies.
KEYWORDS: social innovation, urban dynamics, contemporary cities, cultural heritage, regeneration, place-based policies