Tracks 2023: Urban Futures

1. Urban redevelopment:
New build, green and low-carbon gentrification in the transformed city?

Thursday 26th 10.00 – 12.00

Thursday 26th 13.00 – 15.30

Friday 27th 11.00 – 12.00

How to rearrange ecological urban transition to address inclusion and multitudinous?

The ‘smart’, compact city has become the dominant model for urban planning and development. A main political argument rests on the perception that smart solutions and compact designs will contribute towards reductions in energy consumption, carbon emissions per capita and nature positive solutions.

Additionally, as compact cities minimize urban sprawl, the incentive to protect nature- and farmland areas from urban developments are often used to advocate compact cities as the most sustainable model of urban development.

In recent years, the social consequences of the ‘smart’, compact city have increasingly been under scrutiny. Urban developments in compact cities affect socio-economic groups differently.

Urban areas aimed at promoting energy efficient neighbourhoods, nature-based solutions and green infrastructure developments are often accompanied by high property prices and become less accessible to disadvantaged social groups, thereby contributing to the increasing socio-spatial inequality observed in many cities internationally.

In many cities worldwide, we witness that urban transformation processes are often accompanied with gentrification.

Gentrification entails a process where urban areas formerly characterized as dilapidated or working-class neighborhoods gradually transform into areas where the educated and socio-economic middle-class live, thereby leading to substantial shifts in the demographic and physical qualities of the urban areas, as well as access to amenities and cultural activities.

Gentrification, however, is often connected with increasing social inequalities, exclusion and segregation, as under-privileged groups gradually can be excluded from the central and attractive parts of cities.

In recent years, the focus on ‘green gentrification’ and ‘eco gentrification’ have become prominent in studies focusing on the green shift and sustainable urban development.

This track will address these concerns through various approaches:

  • How can urban development integrate inclusive neighborhoods and affordable housing without sacrificing environmental concerns?
  • How can environmental justice be better addressed in urban transformation?
  • Which stakeholders are involved in influencing the green, urban transformation?
  • What are the social implications of pursuing the green, urban transformation?

2. Urban housing markets

Thursday 26th 10.00 – 12.00: Housing wealth home buyers’ behaviour

Thursday 26th 13.00 – 15.30: Housing supply and neighbourhoods

Friday 27th 11. 00-12.00: Urban transport

Why do some cities appear more sustainable, affordable, and inclusive than others? This conference track welcomes contributions in urban and housing economics that put forward insights into how we can build sustainable cities for the future

Examples of relevant topics include:

  • Housing supply and regulations
  • Inequality in housing markets
  • Access to credit and housing finance
  • Taxation of real estate
  • Urban transportation

3. Urban demographics

Cites stand out with a younger population compared to other parts of the country, and with large in- and out migration. However, the population are aging, even in the cities, and internal differences in mortality are large. What challenges does this imply?

Examples of relevant topics include:

  • Demographics of the city
  • Population dynamics between cities, regions, and the periphery
  • Consequence of differences in aging and dependency ratios 
  • The post-pandemic city including the effect of remote work
  • Governance challenges of immigration, integration, and emigration
  • Tools available for planners to affect the demographic development

4. Urban Analytics

Thursday 26th 10.00 – 12.00

Thursday 26th 13.00 – 15.30

Friday 27th 11.00 – 12.00

5. Governing urban change

Thursday 26th 10.00 – 12.00:
Democratic Politics of Climate Urban Governance

Thursday 26th 13.00 – 15.30:
Part 1 (in Norwegian) Omstillingens sosiale dimensjon: hva innebærer sosial bærekraft i praksis?
Part 2 The politics of urban governance – the role of activism

Friday 27th 11. 00-12.00:
Transforming university partnerships for sustainable urban futures

Urban change and development will always be contested. In the ‘quest’ to realise sustainable urban futures, city actors must thus negotiate multiple tensions both within the city of today, and the city yet to come – over what the sustainable city should be, how it is to be realised, and for whom the sustainable city is developed. In this track we welcome papers that address how cities govern these complex (temporal and spatial) urban transformations, from different perspectives and locations.