AESOP Heads of Schools Meeting is an annual forum for planning education. AESOP is happy to welcome delegates from our member schools, whether they are heads of the schools or any key persons designated by the schools, to discuss main problems and challenges for planning education across Europe.

 

In 2014 we would like to discuss two inter-related topics.

 

First, we would like to invite AESOP community to discuss new role of planning education in relation to the local communities. The main question here is how to strengthen planning in 'our' places (universities, professional environment, communities, local authorities, etc). This raises the issue of strengthening position of planning schools beyond an academia to the community-based programmes. One of the main features might be also the problem of engaging students in their community development. The other interesting question is what planners can actually deliver?

 

These problems would be discussed during three debating groups:

1. Research by Design

2. Research in Action: What Planners Can Deliver? and

3. Planning with Communities.

 

Secondly, mobility and European dimension of planning profession are new challenges for planning and planners across Europe. This requires new approach to planning education. Shall we aim at European accreditation of the courses? What is the role of AESOP in this process? Can we re-define the role of the AESOP Experts Pool? What instruments we would need to facilitate both mobility and European dimension of planning? Is AESOP Digital Platform essential for these developments?

 

Three debating groups will be working on following issues:

1. Qualification of Courses – Towards European Accreditation

2. Digital Platform – Towards Local and European Databases of Knowledge, and

3. Planners on the Move, Courses on the Move Towards Europeization of the Profession?

 

This year we would like to initiate more intense debate rather than develop 'little conference' with its speeches and long presentations. Therefore there is no 'keynote speech' planned – this will be replaced with plenary debate moderated by the President and will follow two brief introductions – one from European perspective and the second from local point of view. These introductions are supposed to set up the scene for the discussion.