Getting to Scale: Planning in Multi-Scale, Functionally Integrated Environments

We particularly encourage abstracts that relate to the conference theme.  If applicable to your paper, use the key word step of the on-line abstract submission process to indicate your abstract's tie-in with this year's theme. Simply type the word "theme" in one of the boxes.

Track Descriptions

1 - Analytical Methods and Computer Applications Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods for urban studies and planning; GIS mapping, spatial analysis, and planning support system; statistical and computational modeling of urban and regional environment; and information technologies and cities.

2 - Economic Development track solicits papers that help tell the economic development story as it evolves in the 21st century. We focus on issues of land, labor, capital, business acumen and entrepreneurship. This track invites scholars, theoretic and pragmatic, to present their work in a manner that will help us to improve the quality of life of our citizens.

3 - Environmental Planning and Resource Management this track encompasses a broad range of topics loosely centered on the natural environment. It includes research related to the planning and management of air, land, and water resources across a variety of scales and from a variety of perspectives. Research on sustainability, both in practice and principle, is another component of this track.

4 - Gender and Diversity in Planning track explores the variety of methods, issues, and topics addressed when groups of difference analyze, develop and implement plans and planning activities. All aspects of diversity are encouraged in this track from race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation to geography, physical or cognitive disability, and class. We encourage papers and discussions on planning research and pedagogy that seek to identify and/or redress these differences.

5 - Housing and Community Development track accepts papers broadly addressing any aspect of housing and community development. In the housing area, papers routinely address issues of housing policy and programs designed to correct market failures in the provision of affordable housing. In the community development area, papers examine issue of neighborhood change whether it is revitalization, stabilization, gentrification, growth or decline.

6 - International Development Planning track focuses on planning and related issues directly relevant to developing countries. Many developing countries share attributes that create unique challenges for planning, such as their recent independence and nation-building efforts, their position vis á vis other developed countries in the global economy, similar demographic profiles and rates of urbanization, inadequate infrastructure, large indigenous populations and systems of land tenure, and their relationships with the large international institutions. There are also significant differences among developing countries (e.g., diverse planning cultures). The track supports comparative scholarship as well as in-depth analysis of specific countries, regions, rural contexts, cities and networks. By encouraging such work the track aims to foster bi-directional flows of knowledge, science and culture between the global north and south.

7 - Land Use Policy and Governance Papers in this track generally focus upon issues such as how and where land is developed, the impacts of state and local regulations upon the use of land, and the role of different actors in the land development process. Land Use Track papers usually employ a variety of methods, including, but not limited to, statistical analyses, detailed case studies, and policy evaluations. The scale of analysis also varies widely, from jurisdiction-level studies, to regional analyses, even as far comparisons between cities or regions on different parts of the globe.

8 - Planning and Human Health and Safety track attempts to raise the visibility of work by planning scholars and practitioners that focuses on assessing and/or influencing the public's health, safety and security. This includes a wide variety of topics such as investigations into the impact of the built environment on health, safety and security; studies refining concepts and/or measures for use in this emerging field; assessments of the health impacts of environmental change; studies focusing on spatial inequalities and access to health; and planning for disasters or assessing the impact of disasters on affected populations.

9 - Planning Education and Pedagogy accepts papers that illuminate and help improve understanding of the purposes of planning education and the uses of curriculum and pedagogy as strategies for serving these purposes. Papers should refer to and build on literature on education, teaching, learning, and planning. Reflective accounts or evaluations of educational practice, critiques of contemporary educational practices, and proposals for more focused and influential educational practices are welcome.

10 - Planning History Presentations in planning history aim to shed light on the emergence and evolution of modern planning at various geographic scales (from the local to the global), in a variety of sub-fields (land-use planning and regulation, housing, transportation, etc.) and in various modes (community action, professional practice, theoretical debates, etc.). Case studies of very recent planning events should be submitted to tracks according to the issue at hand. Papers dealing with the themes of this year's conference will be given priority.

11 - The Planning Process, Administration, Law and Dispute Resolution track focuses on the nature, design and management of decision making processes; plan administration; the development, content, implementation, and effects of laws and regulations; and, approaches to conflict management and dispute resolution.

12 - Planning Theory track welcomes analyses of diverse approaches to understanding and explaining planning institutions, practices, and consequences. We encourage analyses that are grounded in empirical work and clarify their normative and practical-political implications: if neglecting the theory or account at hand mattered, who should do what to reduce such cost or suffering?

13 - Regional Planning track encompasses a range of topics central to regional planning scholars and practitioners, including governance, inter- and intra-metropolitan relations, regional economic development, international comparisons of regional policy, and applications relevant to land use, growth, transportation, environmental and social systems at the regional scale. All methodologies, including quantitative analyses, theoretical work, detailed case studies and comparative analyses, are welcome.

14 - Transportation and Infrastructure track encompasses research on the processes by which transportation and other infrastructure is planned, designed, and developed; the performance of transportation and infrastructure systems and the policies that guide them; the nature of the demand for transportation and other services provided via public infrastructure. Of interest are passenger and freight transport by all possible modes, as well as other public infrastructure such as water systems, power utilities, and community facilities.

15 - Urban Design solicits papers that explore the different but intimately related dimensions of urban design and place making. The track takes a holistic approach which neither focuses on a limited checklist of Urban Design qualities nor excludes important and emerging areas/aspects. Papers exposing the Urban Design process also make an important contribution to our understanding of place making.