Im Spannungsfeld zwischen zentralisierten und dezentralisierten Strukturen stellen sich zurzeit entscheidende Fragen zur Neuausrichtung des deutschen Energiesystems. Verschiedene Systemeigenschaften müssen auf lokaler, regionaler, deutschlandweiter wie europäischer Ebene neu ins Verhältnis gesetzt werden. Dies gilt ebenso für Fragen der Marktgestaltung wie der Neuausrichtung räumlicher Zusammenhänge und dem Umgang mit Verteilungsfragen: Welche funktionalen Bezüge sind für verschiedene Energiemärkte sinnvoll? Welche Akteure sind in diese Märkte (nicht) integriert? Welche Handlungsräume und lokalen Identitäten können durch Dezentralisierung entstehen oder auch eingeschränkt werden? Was aus ökonomischer Sicht sinnvoll oder technisch realisierbar erscheint, mag Fragen der räumlichen Entwicklung oder des sozialen Zusammenhalts zuwider laufen (und umgekehrt).

Single-Family Homes under Pressure?

in Mannheim on October 13 -14, 2016

The conference will bring together international researchers from different disciplines who work on single-family housing. Objective is to scrutinize the effects of demographic, sociocultural and structural change on the utilization of single-family housing in industrialized countries from an interdisciplinary perspective. We understand single-family homes as a generic term for free standing or serial buildings containing one dwelling, including detached, semi-detached and terraced (row) houses.

We welcome contributions from architects, economists, geographers, social scientists, urban and regional planners on:

Cities and Regions: Managing Growth and Change

This Call invites papers for the inaugural session(s) of the new RSA Research Network on ‘Smart City-Regional Governance for Sustainability’, which is thematically closely linked to the two conference strands ‘Smart Cities - Smart Regions’ (track A) as well as ‘Sustainable Cities and Regions’ (track D).

• See PDF for further information

Große Transformation: Nachhaltige Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung als Herausforderung

18. - 21.07.2016 in Hamburg

Internationales DoktorandInnenkolleg Nachhaltige Raumentwicklung/ Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung

Die HafenCity Universität Hamburg (HCU) lädt zusammen mit den Universitäten Innsbruck, Kassel und Liechtenstein zum diesjährigen Internationalen DoktorandInnenkolleg Nachhaltige Raumentwicklung (DokoNaRa) ein.

Die DokoNaRa bietet jungen Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern aus den Bereichen Stadt- und Regionalplanung/Raumplanung, Regionalwissenschaften, Geographie, Architektur, Soziologie, Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie etc. einen inspirierenden Rahmen, sich im interdisziplinären Dialog zu vernetzen, in Werkstattgesprächen ihre laufenden Dissertationsprojekte vorzustellen und im Austausch mit Professoren und anderen jungen Forscherinnen und Forschern zu diskutieren.

April 7th-8th, 2016 in Halle (Saale)

The Halle Forum on Urban Economic Growth – established in 2006 – aims at bringing together original economic and interdisciplinary papers that cast some light on new developments in theoretical and empirical research on economic growth and development in urban environments. The forum should also give PhD students an opportunity for presenting and discussing their research results. Papers may focus on issues like

• cities and creative quarters as seedbeds for innovation
• urban infrastructure and the accessibility of cities
• European and national policies for urban development

Regional Studies Association Annual Conference 2016
3rd – 6th April 2016, Karl-Franzen-University, Graz, Austria

Throughout history, cities and regions have been cornerstones of economic, social and cultural institution building and centres of communication and trade across borders of empires and nations. In a globalised world dominated by multi-level governance and declining economic and political significance of the nation-state, cities and regions are becoming ever more so important in building bridges across nations, supra-national unions, and even continents.

These challenges surpass the usual aspects of integration: it is not sufficient to reduce barriers for the mobility of labour, goods, services and capital, to create a homogenous competitive environment, and a solid monetary system. What is needed in addition are more elements of a new regionalism, which is based on non-hierarchical relationships, on self-government, and on the creation of flexible alliances leading to interregional transnational cooperation. The development of a region is affected by its competitive and complementary relationships with other increasingly distant regions. These relationships have to be embedded in an overall structure of relations which encompass the purely economic ones and have strong social, cultural, legal and political dimensions.

Die gemeinsame Jahrestagung von ARL und DASL, die vom 16.-17. September 2016 in Hannover stattfinden wird, setzt sich mit der Sicherung gleichwertiger Lebensverhältnisse auseinander. Der Auftrag, im öffentlichen Interesse für das gesellschaftliche wie auch individuelle zukünftige Dasein Vorsorge zu treffen, ist zentraler Inhalt raumbezogener Politik und Planung. Ausgestaltung, Herangehensweisen und Steuerungsmöglichkeiten sind immer wieder zu prüfen und an gewandelte Rahmenbedingungen anzupassen. Die Tagung will Plattform für eine aktuelle Positionierung aus Perspektive der Raumwissenschaften und räumlichen Planung sein.

The COST Action TU1201 Urban Allotment Gardens in European Cities and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) invite participants to GROWING IN CITIES: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Gardening International Conference, 9 - 10 September 2016, in Basel, Switzerland.

The conference will be hosted by the FHNW School of Social Work (Institute for Social Planning and Urban Development (ISS)) in partnership with ILS - Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development, Germany.

• Call for Papers (PDF)

European Sociological Association
Research Network 37 – Urban Sociology –
Midterm Conference

Contemporary cities are spaces and places traversed by a diversity of movements, making them very special locus for analysing society. The ESA’s Research Network 37 – Urban Sociology- coordination team is working to stimulate scientific debate within the area of urban sociology. In times of digital information, conferences are very important spaces to debate current issues, showcase emerging research and discuss new approaches. The ESA Research Network 37 – Urban Sociology – Midterm Conference will take place at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, June, 29th- July, 1st, 2016.

ABS Europe Conference 2016

04 – 07 October 2016 | University of Luxembourg
In cooperation with the UniGR-Center for Border Studies (UniGR-CBS)

In 2016 the biannual European Conference of the Association for Borderland Studies (ABS) will be hosted by the University of Luxembourg. The Conference will take place at the Belval campus, in close proximity to the French- Luxembourg border, and in cooperation with the University of the Greater Region (UniGR) – a confederation of six universities from Luxembourg (University of Luxembourg), Germany (University of Kaiserslautern, Saarland University, University of Trier), France (University of Lorraine), and Belgium (University of Liège). The conference is thematically connected to the 30-year anniversary of the Schengen Agreement, which was signed in the Luxembourg village of Schengen. The conference wants to test the vision of a ‘Europe without borders’, by considering questions that focus on mobility, diversity, responsibility and change from a multidisciplinary perspective. The questioning should consider differences as well as discontinuities in a spatial, social and temporal perspective.