SAVE THE DATE: The International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR) will hold its 19th annual conference between 3–7 March 2025 in Cardiff, UK.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS is open: A submission link is available on the conference website. The call for abstracts will close on Monday, 30 September 2024.

The organising committee welcomes any paper abstracts related to the key themes of PLPR: planning, law, and property rights. In addition, PLPR2025 has received several proposals for special sessions on a variety of interesting and timely topics. When submitting your abstract, you have the option to select a specific special session or submit it as a general paper, not affiliated with any particular session. We encourage participants to review the descriptions of the special sessions provided to determine if their submissions align with any of these topics.

Progress of the ARL International Working Group on Land Policies in Europe

The most recent attempt of the German legislator to promote the “building-turbo” by adding provisions in article 246 of the German Planning code illustrate the societal urgency of land policy. If this legislation succeeds, the provision of land for housing will be at the same level with flood recovery, the Corona pandemic or refugee accommodations. In other words, challenges of land policy remain urgent in planning policy and academia.

The ARL international working group (IAK) on land policies in Europe shapes an international debate on land policies to enable structured reflection and mutual learning across national boundaries. The IAK shapes the debate with different means and channels:

The ARL international working group „German Land Policy Revisited – Reflections and Lessons from Abroad” (short: LAND POLICIES IN EUROPE) has published a special issue in “Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning” (RuR) which inspirits the necessary debate in Germany with references to other European countries. 

International renowned experts on the area of land policy and spatial planning focus on the pressing issues (not only) on German land policy. 

All articles are Open Access available.

RuR Vol. 81 No. 6 (2023) 

Annual Conference of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR 2023)

VENUE: Hosted by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, USA

TIME: 2 - 5. May 2023, PhD workshop on 1 May 2023

Conference presentations will be selected through a regular academic peer-review process. Abstract submissions to present at the conference, and applications for the Ph.D. student workshop, are now welcome. Please see the conference website for instructions on the abstract submission process, along with other conference details currently available: Protected link.

The deadline

The ARL International Working Group on Land Policies in Europe prepares two significant milestones. Most recently, the IAK met in Dortmund. In August 2022, the group of experts (from 11 European countries) gathered to prepare the IAK’s next outcomes. In particular, the working group is currently preparing the two most important outputs: First, a compilation of recent land policy innovations across planning laws in different European countries is being prepared in form of a special issue with the journal “Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning” (RuR). 

Furthermore, a second milestone is being prepared. The group intends to develop a book project that presents land policies in Europe in a comprehensible way. The book should cover the current developments and thus enable experts to get valuable insights. The group aims to prepare the book so that it can be read and understood by policy-makers and planning students across the continent. 

The International Working Group on Land Policies in Europe prepares next milestones: The current discussions on challenges on land, including housing, reducing land take and densification, illustrate the interest and relevance of land policies for spatial research and practice – not only in Germany as the new government continues to articulate ambitious housing supply goals, but across Europe. The international perspective and comparative studies on land policies are still lacking. The ARL International Working Group on Land Policies in Europe brings together experts from 11 different European countries. The group’s overall objective is to conduct a systematic comparison – as a source of inspiration both for lessons from other countries for the German debate on land policy and for the transfer of experiences from Germany to the participating countries. Therefore, one of the milestones is the preparation of a major book project on this topic together with the international experts on land policy that make up the working group and its scientific advisory board. 

Conference Report

PLPR online sessions in February 2021 in retrospect

In the academic calendar of many ARL members, February is the month of the year that is traditionally reserved for international debates on the relations between planning, law and property. This year the discussions of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law and Property Rights (PLPR) took place in the form of 11 online sessions and a virtual workshop. Both in terms of content and personnel, the online sessions were closely related to the activities of the ARL International Working Group ‘German Land Policy Revisited – Reflections and Lessons from Abroad’ which is co-led by the PLPR president Thomas Hartmann and the PLPR secretary general Andreas Hengstermann.