by Robin Hambleton and Danielle Sinnett
It’s exciting to be able to announce that our Centre will be hosting a major international conference on ‘Creating healthy and sustainable cities’ here in Bristol on 10-13th June 2025.
Now is the time to submit your proposals if you would like to participate in this forward-looking international conference. The conference aims to attract over 300 scholars from more than 30 countries, and we hope very much that it will stimulate a wide range of fruitful conversations on how to improve the quality of life in cities.
The background
During this last six months or so a small team of the Sustainable Planning and Environment Centre (SPE) researchers has been working closely with colleagues in the European Urban Research Association (EURA) to develop the agenda for this international conference.
UWE played a critical role in creating EURA in the 1990s. Ever since it was launched, in Brussels in 1997, the association has sought to encourage international exchange and cooperation in relation to urban and environmental studies.
EURA conferences are interdisciplinary, stimulating and, also, very friendly!
Apart from organising successful international conferences and workshops EURA runs a highly respected international journal – Urban Research and Practice – and provides a website that enables scholars to share ideas in an ongoing and active EURA Conversations series about the future of cities. Click here for more information on EURA: EURA – European Urban Research Association
The EURA 2025 International Conference in Bristol
The purpose of the 2025 conference is not just to advance understanding of how to create healthy and sustainable settlements in the UK, but also to contribute to international thinking relating to city planning, environmental innovation and local democracy.
The aims of this conference are, then, closely aligned with the core aims of SPE. By bringing together a large and diverse international group of scholars the conference should be able to advance international understanding of how to create places that are environmentally healthy, resilient and sustainable, in the context of the ecological and climate emergencies.
The EURA 2025 Conference website has just been launched and proposals are welcomed by 31st October 2024.
More details
This international conference will take place in Bristol City Hall in the heart of the city on 10-13th June 2025.
Nine tracks have been created to guide the academic exchanges that will take place next June:
1. Creating healthy and liveable places
2. Regenerating the city
3. Smart city governance driving green and digital transitions
4. Regulating the city: planning and beyond
5. Enhancing democratic governance in changing cities
6. Strategic thinking for city futures: looking beyond city boundaries
7. Inclusive futures and spatial practices
8. Designing accessible cities: towards low-carbon and inclusive mobility futures
9. Greening the city
In addition to the academic discussions that will take place during these tracks, there will be contributions from high profile keynote speakers and an afternoon of mobile workshops.
These mobile workshops (or study tours) will enable participants to meet civic actors in different locations within Bristol who are trying to help Bristol become a healthy and sustainable city. These grounded discussions with practitioners will form a very important part of this conference.
Ways of participating
If the issues set out above interest you, please consider submitting a proposal to the EURA 2025 website. The call invites participants to submit abstracts and/or to submit proposals for pre-organised panels or conversations.
This is a chance to express our sincere thanks to the many colleagues within SPE, and beyond, who developed the successful bid to EURA to host the 2025 international conference here in Bristol. Special thanks are due to colleagues who have agreed to co-chair the various tracks and to those who have agreed to lead the various mobile workshops. Thank you!
If you would like to find out more about this international conference, click here: EURA 2025: Creating healthy and sustainable cities, Bristol, UK, 10-13 June 2025.
Robin Hambleton is Emeritus Professor of City Leadership in the Centre. Danielle Sinnett is Professor in Sustainable Built Environments and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments.