APERAU 2026

International Urban Planning Conference

The APERAU 2026 International Urban Planning Symposium continues to explore, as in previous editions, the socio-ecological transition of cities and regions. Having previously examined this transition through the lens of evolving urban planning practices (University of Bordeaux-Montaigne, 2022), the urbanism of living systems (University of Lausanne, 2023), and the transition in response to the climate emergency (UQAM, University of Montreal and Laval University, 2024), and finally through APERAU’s various thematic networks (Paris School of Urban Planning, 2025), this year’s focus centers on the uses of cities and territories, their roles in socio-ecological transitions, and their relationships with the urban fabric. It can be formulated as follows: how do the uses and practices of cities and territories fit into their socio-ecological transitions?

These APERAU International Urban Planning Conferences thus aim to analyze the roles and significance of uses and practices—and therefore of users and residents—in the broader context of the socio-ecological transition of cities and regions, but more specifically in terms of their interactions with the challenges, tools, stakeholders, and other aspects of urban planning and development. This allows us, in particular, to examine analyses in terms of the social acceptability of urban ecological transitions. This specific focus indeed requires an examination of everyone’s agency in the face of the challenges of these transitions. This deepens the analysis of the livability of cities and regions. The approach through uses also leads to a re-examination of sector-specific research in the fields of housing, mobility, culture, and tertiary, administrative, commercial, and industrial activities, as well as leisure.