Planning inclusive spaces–in a new light

Abstract

It is deeply satisfying to know that Volume 10 of AESOP Young Academics’ peer-reviewed journal plaNext – Next Generation Planning is now available to you. This volume stems from the 13th Young Academics conference which took place from the 2nd to the 5th of April 2019 in Darmstadt and was hosted by the Graduate School of Urban Studies (URBANgrad) at the Faculty of Architecture of Technical University of Darmstadt. The conference was held under the title “Planning inclusive spaces: An inter- and transdisciplinary approach” and provided 50 young planning researchers with a platform for exchange for the following themes: “'Public space' and the dilemma of inclusion,” “Health promoting urban planning and design,” “Citizenship and governance in the production of space,” and “From sustainable to resilient urban strategies.”

This volume comprises three top-quality papers which were presented at the conference. These are highly valuable contributions, as they approach complex matters of “planning inclusive spaces” from a variety of aspects, make critical observations, and reframe and reflect on topical debates in academia and planning practice. By presenting these papers, we believe this volume provides an insight into advancing our collective knowledge through the debates on inclusivity. We learn our lessons from policies and practices that are “good” but also from those that are “not so good”. The volume, therefore, shares these perspectives and viewpoints with relevance to the conference theme, and it does so by trying to identify what is really needed to adequately address spatial challenges and to facilitate a sustainable transition towards (more) inclusive spaces through inter- and transdisciplinarity.