plaNext–Next Generation Planning is an international peer-reviewed open access journal indexed in Scopus. The young academics network of AESOP founded plaNext to provide prospective authors with an opportunity to engage their ideas in international planning debates as well as to make their research available to the wider planning audience. plaNext invites authors to submit original work that includes: empirical research; theoretical discussions; innovative methodologies; case studies; and book reviews on selected books, textbooks, or specific topics dealing within planning.

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

This special volume of plaNext brings together peer reviewed papers from the 18th AESOP Young Academics Conference, Bridging Gaps Urban Planning for Coexistence, held at Politecnico di Milano in March 2024. It reflects shared concerns about widening disconnections in planning theory and practice, including gaps between social groups, policy sectors, spatial scales, knowledge systems, and human and non-human actors. Against a background of climate stress, social inequality, and institutional fragmentation, the contributions explore how planning can support forms of coexistence that are socially just, environmentally grounded, and institutionally feasible. The papers span diverse empirical contexts and approaches, addressing energy, climate adaptation, housing, and historically embedded spatial inequalities. Together, they question planning models centred on technical optimization or hierarchical decision making, and instead emphasize relational perspectives, historical awareness, and plural forms of knowledge. By contributing to wider debates on resilience, sustainability transitions, and planning ethics, this volume offers a platform for emerging scholars while inviting reflection on planning as a practice of negotiation and coexistence across social, spatial, and institutional boundaries. Additionally, this issue of plaNext also includes two papers from the open call.

Published: 2026-01-12

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