Exploring land-management across Europe: perspectives, challenges and practices

2025 ARL International Summer School

17-19 June 2025 in Ås, Norway

Land has always been a finite resource, facing diverse and often competing demands from urban and infrastructural development, environmental preservation and agricultural use. In the context of climate change adaptation and climate mitigation and other emerging trends, sustainable land use is gaining new significance. Addressing these challenges requires a novel approach to land management and land-use planning, emphasizing sustainable policies and practices fostering transformative approaches towards just spatial development.  

This interdisciplinary summer school provides a platform to explore the different perspectives, challenges, and practical experiences in transformative land management across Europe. Participants will critically examine how regulatory frameworks and planning approaches contribute to sustainable and just urban development and gain insights into the implications of land-use policies, including their role in mitigating urban sprawl, preserving natural habitats, and achieving long-term sustainability goals such as the EU’s ambitious goal of achieving zero land take by 2050.

Title image by NMBU/Tommy Normann.