Editorial: Bridging gaps – urban planning for coexistence

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https://doi.org/10.24306/plnxt/121

Abstract

Today, urban planning attempts to address trans-scalar issues while dealing with the increasingly complex socio-environmental, economic, and cultural challenges that demand specific, innovative, sustainable, and inclusive solutions. The 18th AESOP Young Academics Conference, titled Bridging Gaps: Urban Planning for Coexistence, was organized and hosted by a group of PhD candidates at the Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico di Milano) in March 2024. The conference was conceived as an open platform, designed specifically by and for early career researchers to engage with these challenges. It aimed to address the theoretical and practical gaps within urban planning, seeking ways to transform them into constructive dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities. In a world shaped by environmental crises, urban-rural tensions, socio-economic disparities, and the diverging relationship between academia and practice, the conference offered a unique and safe space for young academics, including master’s and doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and other early career scholars, to critically rethink urban planning as a tool for coexistence. Participants explored new ways to address these challenges and bridge the identified gaps in the planning discourse through their research, methodologies, and case studies.

Published

2026-01-12

Issue

Vol. 16 (2026): Bridging Gaps – Urban Planning for Coexistence

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Editorial introduction

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Copyright (c) 2026 Sophie Leemans, Abdallah Jreij, Luca Lazzarini, Israa Mahmoud, Asma Mehan, Sıla Ceren Varış Husar

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Sophie Leemans, Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, Belgium

Sophie Leemans obtained a PhD in Architecture at KU Leuven in Belgium and has completed research stays in New York and Amsterdam. In her work, she continually seeks to integrate architecture, urban design, planning and landscape while studying the relation between physical infrastructure networks and urban transformation.

Abdallah Jreij, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Abdallah Jreij is an architect, urban planner, and research fellow at Politecnico di Milano. His work examines the sustainability of mega-projects linked to mega-events. Co-founder of re.te – Research for Territory, his work bridges academic research and territorial practice, focusing on spatial planning and regeneration projects in urban and mountain regions.

Luca Lazzarini, Laboratorio di Simulazione Urbana “Fausto Curti”, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Luca Lazzarini is an Assistant Professor in Spatial Planning at the Laboratorio di Simulazione Urbana "Fausto Curti" of DAStU/Politecnico di Milano (Italy). Since 2023, he has worked as a Research fellow at the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC). His research explores the interfaces between spatial planning and urban biodiversity, with a specific concern on the mapping and monitoring of the socio-spatial impacts of biodiversity-related interventions.

Israa Mahmoud, Laboratorio di Simulazione Urbana “Fausto Curti”, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Israa Mahmoud is an Assistant professor in urban and regional planning at Urban Simulation Laboratory, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of Politecnico di Milano. She is an expert on Nature-based solutions implementation in urban regeneration. She is involved in the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) as a researcher on co-creation and co-governance themes related to urban biodiversity in living labs. After her PhD in Urban regeneration in 2018, she was involved in several European and national projects related to urban greening, placemaking and social cohesion. Since 2023, she has the qualification of Associate Professor in Urban and Regional planning.

Asma Mehan, Huckabee College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, Italy

Asma Mehan is an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University’s Huckabee College of Architecture, where she directs the Architectural Humanities and Urbanism Lab. Her research focuses on architectural humanities and critical urban studies, and she has authored several books and numerous scholarly articles on architecture and urban planning.

Sıla Ceren Varış Husar, Institute of Management, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia

Sıla Ceren Varış Husar is an Assistant Professor at Slovak University of Technology, focusing on regional planning and spatial development. She completed an MSCA postdoc on regional innovation capacity in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds a PhD from METU and is active in AESOP, RSA and the journal plaNext.

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