Urban and regional infrastructures regain interdisciplinary interest in course of the ‘infrastructural turn’. Contemporary questions exceed beyond engineering and technology but reach into social, political, economic, and ecological spheres. 

Therefore, the ARL:Univie International Summer School 2021 “Urban and Regional Infrastructures” invited international young researchers to Vienna to discuss the state-of-the-art of infrastructure-related research. The special issue in European Journal on Spatial Development is an outcome of the summer school. It compiles the contributions and opens up the discussion on the present role, effects and future challenges of urban and regional infrastructures to an interdisciplinary planning-oriented scientific community.

‘Urban and Regional Infrastructures’ 
29 September to 2 October 2021 at the University of Vienna

The ARL:univie International Summer School 2021 ‘Urban and Regional Infrastructures’ took place from 29 September to 2 October 2021 at the University of Vienna. In the course of a global ‘infrastructural turn’, infrastructures have gained renewed importance in geography and planning sciences during the last two decades. The current systemic questions concerning the development and planning of infrastructures go far beyond the engineering and technological issues of earlier research approaches. They reach into domains of social, political, cultural and economic debates. Global connectivity, mobility, digitalisation, urbanisation, energy demand, economic growth and crises are all linked to infrastructural networks and services in their uneven trajectories. As a result, the development of urban and regional infrastructures may shape new geographies of inequality and standards of infrastructural provisions, i.e. availability, accessibility, affordability, quality and diversity, need to be renegotiated. Normatively speaking, ‘good’ governance and the development of infrastructures can be key for sustainability-oriented urban and regional development and policies at the same time.

The ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association in cooperation with the University of Vienna is inviting applications for the ARL International Summer School 2021 on “Urban and Regional Infrastructures”, which will take place from Wed. 29 September to Sat. 2 October, 2021 in Vienna (the arrival is scheduled for 28 September 2021). Advanced master and doctoral students from all disciplines are invited to apply. The summer school will be held in English.

Public Online Events:

Wed., Sep 29th 2021, 16:15-16:45: Welcome Opening by Rainer Danielzyk (ARL), Alois Humer & Yuri Kazepov (both UNIVIE)

Urban and Regional Infrastructures” on WED 29 September - SAT 2 October 2021 in Vienna 

The ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association in cooperation with the University of Vienna is inviting applications for the ARL International Summer School 2021 on “Urban and Regional Infrastructures”, which will take place from Wed. 29 September to Sat. 2 October, 2021 in Vienna (the arrival is scheduled for 28 September 2021). Advanced master and doctoral students from all disciplines are invited to apply. The summer school will be held in English. 

The deadline for applications is 11th April 2021.