ARL International

Welcome to the knowledge and communication platform of the ARL - Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association , where you’ll find comprehensive information on the Academy’s international expertise.

NEW: Our missions

#1 Promoting sustainable, resilient and equitable water management
#2 Planning sustainable infrastructures

Latest News

30/10/2025

Photo of a camera screen showing a New York street scene with a yellow taxi and zebra crossing

Vote now in the ‘2025 PhD Video Challenge – People's Vote’

By voting, you are helping young researchers to increase their visibility and reach.

Vote here: https://www.buildingsandcities.org/video-challenge/peoples-vote-2025.html

30/10/2025

Call for Membership: International Working Group “Land Take in Europe – In Pursuit of Net Zero”

The group will work for three years (2026–2028) to explore how European countries can move toward No Net Land Take (NNLT) by 2050 — a core EU objective aimed at avoiding, minimizing and compensating land consumption.

13/10/2025

Graphic with a panoramic view of Brussels, showing the Mont des Arts and the Gothic town hall tower in the background. The image is diagonally divided: the left half in black and white, the right half in red overlay. A white-outlined text box on the red side reads: “Brussels Talk 2025”.

ARL Brussels Talk 2025 on Land Policies in Europe

Land as a scarce resource: The ARL brings experts together in Brussels for European dialogue

30/09/2025

Difficulties for Theorisation: Insights from a roundtable at AESOP Annual Congress 2025

With the objective of reflecting on persistent tensions in spatial planning theory members of the ARL Working Group “Beyond the Process: Finding Common Ground for a Discussion on Planning's Substantial Foundation” came together with external experts for a roundtable discussion.

25/09/2025

Good Planning & Cooperation Practices in the Baltic Sea Region

On 18 September 2025, VASAB hosted a hybrid workshop in Iława, Poland, and online, bringing together project partners of the Planners’ Forum project, and other key stakeholders involved in spatial planning in the Baltic Sea Region.

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Who we are

The ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association is the central platform and professional voice of spatial science research and practice. As a social research infrastructure, we bring together recognised experts on socially relevant topics.

We provide our members and all participants in our network with the human and financial resources necessary for inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation, the synthesis of spatial knowledge and the effective transfer of results. In this way, we tackle current issues of sustainable spatial development in an integrated, multidisciplinary and practice-orientated manner.

This inter- and transdisciplinary approach characterises all our activities, events and publications with the aim of stimulating forward-thinking change and actively shaping the process of spatial transformation.

The ARL is a member of the Leibniz Assoctiation.

The Academy