Seminar Series: Urban Complex Futures: Critical Leverage Points

The urban condition today oscillates between dystopian and utopian futures: increasing spatial segregation, political polarisation, socio-economic inequality, authoritarian governance, retrogressive and repressive national interventions are unfolding alongside a resurgence of urban agency, long-term thinking, visionary planning, collective action, community building, and the exploration of alternative futures, including post-growth paradigms, democratic innovations, and real(-istic) utopias. As time and space appear to compress further, urban discourse increasingly seeks pathways toward sustainable and equitable futures.

Our moment in time may represent an urban tipping point capable of leveraging transformations within complex, yet-to-be-understood and shaped realities. Exploring this momentum at the intersection of urban politics, spatial planning, systems thinking, and complexity theory offers a promising framework for developing, debating, and deploying concrete utopias to shape the future of our cities and regions. The aim is to seek pathways for reconciling urban politics today with potential positive future directions, connecting three established network efforts across Europe in consecutive events. The seminar series is in particular open for emerging ideas, young researchers, and students as the future drivers of democratic change.

In three interactive online seminars, international scholars will discuss current research approaches and innovative perspectives on urban development.

An overview of the events:

• Wednesday, 21 October 2026, 14:00–15:00 CET | Complex Adaptive Systems & Sustainable Cities
• Wednesday, 11 November 2026, 15:00–16:00 CET | Complex Realities & Uncertain Futures
• Wednesday, 2 December 2026, 15:00–16:00 CET | TIME/LESS Planning & Temporary Uses – Introduction/Moderation: Fabio Bayro Kaiser (RWTH Aachen University), Stefano Cozzolino (ILS Dortmund), Christian Lamker (University of Groningen)

The series will be complemented by the international event “Complexity Unpacked: Analytical Tools & Practical Insights for Uncertain Futures,” to be held on January 8 and 9, 2027, in Nicosia, Cyprus.

You can find the complete program here. Participation is free. To register, please use the form on the AESOP-website.

Flyer

For more information, please see the flyer.

Hosts for the Full Series

• University of Groningen: Faculty of Spatial Sciences (Christian Lamker) and University College Groningen (Marian Counihan); Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE); Rudolf Agricola for Sustainable Development, CITIES Research Group (Marian Counihan, Beate Peter)
• AESOP Thematic Group Planning and Complexity (Christian Lamker, Jenni Partanen, Solon Solomou) & Thematic Group Urban Futures (Thomas Machiels, Peter Ache)
• University of Antwerp, Belgium (Thomas Machiels)
• RWTH Aachen University, Germany (Fabio Bayro Kaiser)
• ILS Research Institute für Urban and Regional Development (Stefano Cozzolino)
• Aalto University, Finland (Jenni Partanen)
• University of Nicosia, Cyprus (Solon Solomou)
• Collective Post-Growth Planning (Christian Lamker)

Contact

Dr. Stefano Cozzolino
Telefon: +49 (0) 231 9051-237
E-Mail: stefano.cozzolino@ils-forschung.de