The Urban Economy Forum (UEF) and the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) are organizing a unique global, hybrid, and joint UEF5 and WPC59 conference that will bring together city leaders, academia, governmental, non-governmental, and local organizations, parliamentarians and multi-level constituency representatives, entrepreneurs, civil society, financiers and planning professionals for a much-needed knowledge co-production on how to finance shared visions, policies, plans and designs for more climate-responsive and equitable places and communities in a rapidly and largely unplanned urbanizing world, struggling to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The formal Call for Congress Contributions is now open for the 5th Urban Economy Forum + 59th ISOCARP World Planning Congress (UEF5+WPC59) in Toronto, Canada! We welcome you to be part of the Congress Programme – through in-person presentations at the Congress, Special Sessions and Roundtables, as well as written Research Papers and Case Study Reports that advance the planning profession. Explore the Congress theme, "For Climate Action, Urban Finance' – Planning for more Resilient & Equitable Places & Communities" the Tracks, and Create an Account so that you can respond to the Call for Contributions to be a part of this year's ISOCARP World Planning Congress in Toronto, Canada, taking place from 10-13 October 2023.  

The second Call for Contributions is open only for new submissions. After May 1st, no changes are allowed or will be considered in the reviewing process for abstracts submitted during the first Call for Contributions.

Important Dates

Congress Contributions: Be Part of the Congress Programme

Presentations in Track Sessions

Planners come from all parts of the world to share their knowledge and experience, forge and renew friendships, to gain insights into cutting edge planning from around the world from colleagues in contexts both similar to and very different from their own. An ISOCARP Congress offers a unique combination of scientific content, diverse perspectives, and collegiality. The most rewarding way to be part of this is to give a Presentation of a Paper or Case Study in one of the Congress Tracks.

Research Papers + Case Study Reports 

The International Society of City and Regional Planners prides itself on a history of strong contribution to the Planning Profession, in large part through the wealth of research and documentation of case studies and planning methodologies that is shared at the annual ISOCARP World Planning Congresses. All papers submitted per the Submission Guidelines are published online in the Congress Proceedings, and ISOCARP strives to have the Congress Proceedings indexed within the Web of Science and published electronically with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and made available in ISOCARP's searchable paper platform following the Congress. 

Contribution Categories

Abstracts are welcome in the following 4 Categories:

1.1 Case Study Report + Track Presentation

Case Study Reports contribute to Planning Practice by providing evidence and evaluation of work – a specific project, plan, policy or design – that can either be already completed or in the implementation phase. Case Study Reports will be included in the Congress Proceedings.

1.2 Case Study Track Presentation without Report

Contributors are welcome to present their Case Study, without the obligation to submit a full Case Study Report. Please note that in this case, the presentation will not be included in the proceedings or any other post-congress publication.

1.3 Research Paper + Track Presentation

Research Papers should represent an academic contribution to a specific field, discipline and/or topic within one of the Tracks (selected at submission). Final Research Papers will be assigned a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier), will be included in the Congress Proceedings and the ISOCARP searchable paper platform-after the congress.

1.4 Special Session

Propose a 60-min Special Session focusing on an innovative, cross-cutting, globally relevant topic that intersects with several of the Congress Tracks. Special Session proposers are invited to be creative with the format of their session (panel, roundtable, game,workshop, outside activity/site visit, debate etc.). Proposers must identify and coordinate all session speakers or facilitators, and are expected to develop and submit initially a Special Session Proposal on the Congress Platform and later on, after acceptance, a fully formulated Special Session Programme PDF. The description of the Special Session will be included in the Congress Proceedings. The description and results/summary of the Special Session will be included in the Congress Recap.

Criteria

ISOCARP welcomes contributions from practitioners, policy makers, academics in planning and related fields – from global north and south, east and west, practical and theoretical, technical and artistic, famous and unknown, generalist and specialist.
However, to enable the Congress Team to make a reasonable assessment of the appropriateness of the proposed paper for the specific Congress, the paper/case study abstract should include the following components:

• Case study/Research background 
• Case study relevance to the congress themes 
• Contribution to planning or policy making practice 
• The importance of the topic and relevance to the audience, methodology and findings (if academic focused)
• Describing how your presentation will bring forth new ideas and actionable planning methods/approaches with tangible outcomes to advance climate-responsive, inclusive and equitable community planning
• Learning objectives