News

Deadline for abstracts extended to 15 March 2026! 
We invite scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to submit abstracts for the ARL Congress 2026, taking place on 1–2 October 2026 in Cologne (Maternushaus).

Poland’s spatial planning system has recently undergone significant reforms, particularly affecting municipal planning and land-use decisions. The ARL Country Profile of Poland offers a concise overview of the planning system, recent reforms, multilevel governance, and key challenges such as regional disparities, urban–rural divides, and demographic change.

The ARL at the Final Conference of the Planners’ Forum Project in Tallinn

The final conference of the Planners’ Forum project, held on 11–12 February 2026 in Tallinn, marked both the conclusion of the project phase and the official launch of the Land-based Planners’ Forum.

Now published by Campus Verlag!

In times of challenging transformations at all spatial levels, the insights provided in this book are highly relevant. 

ARL Lunch Talk
19.03.2026, 13:00-14:00 CET, online

The Lunch Talk aims to bring together scholars from different fields of expertise and to reflect on both, the perspectives of shrinking areas and those of young people. 

This hands-on training course covers the fundamentals of ecological connectivity and biodiversity in the Alpine region. It is designed for experts, planners, and other relevant groups.

The Hannover Section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (www.fgz-risc.de/en) invites you to participate in the conference “Exploring Local Social Cohesion in Green and Just Transitions”. 

Regional expansion of onshore wind power under RED III

Striking a balance between biodiversity protection and accelerated growth targets

Date: 14 April 2026, 11:30 am to 02:00 pm
Venue: On the premises of the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the EU, Rue Belliard 60/621, Brussels

The updated ARL Country Profile of Bulgaria, authored by Ivaylo Stamenkov, provides a comprehensive overview of the country’s spatial planning and territorial development system, outlining its legal foundations, institutional architecture and multilevel governance arrangements.

At its final meeting, the advisory group praises the international expansion of ARL activities

We invite scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to submit abstracts for the ARL Congress 2026, taking place on 1–2 October 2026 in Cologne (Maternushaus).

Mission Statement of the ARL Forum Gender and Spatial Transformation now available!

Following a visit to the ARL Headquarters by Indian experts on 18 December 2025, during which there was a stimulating exchange of views on spatial planning and regional planning specifics in Germany and India, ARL President Axel Priebs was invited to give a presentation on regional planning in the Hanover region as part of the Indian Urban Knowledge Webinar Series.

Call for Applications

The Summer School will take place from 8 to 10 July 2026 at the University of Amsterdam.

The ARL Country Profile of Hungary offers a concise overview of the country’s spatial planning system, highlighting recent legislative reforms, governance structures, and planning practices. Authored by Prof. Dr. János Brenner, it examines how Hungary navigates territorial development, sustainability, and urban-rural cohesion within its centralised legal framework and EU context, providing insights into municipal, regional, and national planning approaches.

We are very happy to announce that the disP special issue "Gender Perspectives on Climate Change: Transforming Spatial Planning" has been published Open Access: disP - The Planning Review: Vol 61, No 3

The book explores how urban planning under National Socialism became an instrument of power, exclusion, and war. What role did it play compared to other authoritarian regimes in Europe between 1933 and 1945? 

We are pleased to announce that our ARL Forum 'Gender and Spatial Transformation' has developed a Code of Conduct for our cooperation and transdisciplinary knowledge production. 

This position paper from the cross-border working group of the ARL Bavaria Forum considers the multifunctional concept of green infrastructure to be a profitable approach for strengthening the role of spatial planning in the northern Alpine region, specifically with regard to coordinating planning and measures related to open spaces.

This position paper from the cross-border working group of the ARL Bavaria Forum considers the multifunctional concept of green infrastructure to be a profitable approach for strengthening the role of spatial planning in the northern Alpine region, specifically with regard to coordinating planning and measures related to open spaces.

The Alpine Space Interreg project “ PlanToConnect ” hold its final conference on the 7 ^th of October 2025 with an excursion to agro-photovoltaic sites on the 8 ^th of October to finalize its project as it ended at the end of October.

As a pre-event to the AlpPlan General Assembly and a thematic introduction to the PlanToConnect Final Conference on the following two days, AlpPlan and the PlanToConnect Expert Platform co-hosted a workshop featuring a keynote by Dr. Annika Keeley.

From the Alps to the Swiss Plateau, Switzerland is updating how it manages land use. The latest reforms focus on sustainable growth, compact urban development, and balancing public interest with property rights—giving cantons, municipalities, and citizens a stronger role in shaping the future of Swiss settlements.

Call for papers for a special issue on the topic

Persistent inequalities? Looking towards and beyond the continuing East-West divides in German society 

in the journal Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning (RuR).

Netherlands: Shaping Land in a Low-Lying Nation