SOCIETY & CULTURES

Livable Towns, Cities, Regions 2027 | Dublin, Ireland

A conference on the Future of Place, Planning, Communities & Design.

Dates: 28-30 June, 2027 | Abstracts: 15 July, 2026

Society & Cultures

Livable Towns, Cities, Regions 2027 is part of the international and interdisciplinary conference and publication series led by AMPS. Bringing together universities and scholars globally, it examines diverse readings of the design, management and experience of life in cities. Previous conferences in have been held in New York, London, Bangalore, Lisbon, Barcelona, Calgary and elsewhere. The 2026 annual conference is organised with the University College Dublin, Ireland.

Examining issues related to the social sciences this highlight notice welcomes submissions on a variety of theme including, but not limited to:

Call Summary

Towns, cities and regions around the world are confronting profound environmental, social and spatial transformation. Population growth, housing pressures and infrastructural demands are reshaping how our built environments are envisaged, developed and governed. Climate change, sustainability and resilience are reframing how we think about the future of design and planning. In their turn, our existing urban fabrics, inherited buildings and historic neighbourhoods, shape the possibilities of change.

In this context, when we design, preserve and plan the places in which we live, we are dealing with an increasingly complex and interconnected problem. Whether it be conservation, planning or architecture, or questions of communities, health and climate change, the terrain on which we tread inevitably overlaps.

The challenge in this scenario then, is not simply to preserve the past, design the present and plan a sustainable future, but to do it unison. For example, the reuse of existing buildings is central to carbon reduction; the participation of communities in design is key to urban planning; the adaptation of cities to digital infrastructures supports resilience and sustainability. It is a scenario that requires the skills of architects, planners, environmental scientists and technologists; the perspective of historians, sociologists and health professionals; and the knowledge and insights of local people and communities.

With all this in mind, the 17th Annual Conference in this series explores the design, management and experience of life in cities from across the full range of social science disciplines including:

Sociology, Human Geography, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Ethnography and more.

Themes

Interdisciplinary:

Sociology, Geography, Anthropology: Example themes: affordable housing, community sustainability, participatory planning, migration, urbanization, forced displacement, cultural traditions….

Public Services: Example themes: Community health services, housing provision, access to education, sanitation and environmental health, design and planning for an aging population….

Societies, Communities, Cultures: Example themes: Right to the city, race and the city, defensible space, criminology, gentrification, participatory planning, land rights, indigenous communities….

Architecture, Landscape, Urban Design: Example themes: Architectural design, landscapes and cities, urban design, retrofitting and renovating buildings, public space design, walkable cities….

Technologies + Medias: Example themes: Smart Cities, digital infrastructures, the internet of things, digital equality, privacy and connectedness, ubiquitous computing, big data and city space….

Transport, Infrastructure & Urban Management: Example themes: Urban regeneration, city and regional planning, integrated transportation, soft mobility, the economies of cities, urban sprawl, managing growth….

Public Health: Example themes: Covid-19, healthy buildings, healthy cities, environmental psychology, walkable cities, design 4 life, sick building syndrome, accessible design….

Sustainability + Resilience: Example themes: Strategic retreat, urban heat islands, resilient cities, net zero energy buildings, the carbon footprint of the building industry, resource use and cities….

Urban Economics: Example themes: City boosterism, enterprise zones, global cities, affordable housing, urban poverty, urban regeneration, private-public partnerships, development….

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Livable Towns, Cities, Regions

Research + Publication Program

This conference is part of the AMPS Critical Futures research program that encompasses a range of interconnected issues, from participatory planning, public health and communities to transport architectural design and sustainability. In each of these areas AMPS supports the research of academics focused on issues such as affordable housing, accessible design, healthy cities, urban growth, community design, social justice and environmental sustainability.

Overview:

Cities – Critical Futures reflects the UN World Urbanization Prospects engaging with concerns about growing urbanisation, informal development, urban sprawl, regeneration and the future of post-industrial cities across Europe and North America. Health – Critical Futures engages with global issues such as healthy cities, walkable neighbourhoods, accessible design, design for life, Covid-19 and public spaces, ‘sick building’ research and more. Housing – Critical Futures responds to a global ‘crisis’ in affordable housing provision. It examines dichotomies such as the chronic shortage of affordable housing in London, the displacement of long-standing communities in urbanising China and civil unrest around housing in São Paulo.

Collaborations:

The UN Habitat Program, The Royal Institute of British Architects, The Commission of Architecture and the Built Environment, The Faculty of Public Health, UCL Press, Libri Publishing, Vernon Press, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Atelier Herman Hertzberger, The National Housing Federation, the Pubic Health Film Society, the homelessness charity Shelter, Habitat for Humanity and multiple universities internationally.

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Publications

Books, Journal, Proceedings

The Critical Futures program draws upon the AMPS publication network based on the journal and book series with several international publishing houses: Routledge Taylor & Francis | UCL Press | Intellect Books | Libri Publishing | Vernon Press | Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

In addition the work of researchers is shared through the Amps Academic YouTube channel, its series of international conferences and its associated proceedings publications.

Sample Books

Serving the Marginalized through Design Education. (ed) Steven B. Webber. Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2025
Place-Based Sustainability: Research and Design Extending Pathways for Ecological Stewardship. (ed) Jason Montgomery. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023
Participatory Practice in Space, Place, and Service Design: Questions of Access, Engagement and Creative Experience. (ed) Kelly L. Anderson. Vernon Press, 2022
Urban Histories in Practice: Morphologies and Memory. (eds) Jeffrey Kruth & Steven Rugare, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021
The Complex City: Social and Built Approaches and Methods. (ed) Caroline Donnellan. Vernon Press, 2021
Critical Practices in Architecture: The Unexamined. (eds) Jon Bean, Susannah Dickinson, Aletheia Ida. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020
Designing for Health & Wellbeing: Home, City, Society. (eds) Matthew Jones, Louis Rice, Fidel Meraz. Vernon Press, 2019
From Conflict to Inclusion in Housing . (eds) Graham Cairns, Georgios Artopoulos, Kirsten Day. UCL Press, 2017
Housing the Future – Alternative Approaches for Tomorrow. (eds) Rachel Isaac-Menard and Graham Potts. Libri Publishing, 2016
Design for a Complex World: Challenges in Practice and Education. (ed) Graham Cairns. Libri Publishing, 2015

Sample Journal Special Issues

Human Relationships Embedded in Place. Architecture_MPS, ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 30 Nos.1-4. 2022
Housing & Society. Architecture_MPS ISSN, 2050-9006. Vol 28 Nos.1-4. 2024
The City & Public Health. Architecture_MPS ISSN, 2050-9006. Vol 24 Nos.1-4. 2023
Decolonising the Curriculum. Architecture_MPS ISSN, 2050-9006. Vol 21 Nos.1-4. 2022
Art, Space and Activism. Architecture_MPS ISSN, 2050-9006. Vol 20 Nos.1-4. 2021
Re-Design Teaching Design. Architecture_MPS ISSN, 2050-9006. Vol 18 Nos.1-4. 2020.

Sample Conferences

Cities, Culture, People & Place – Livable Cities Lisbon, Portugal. Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE). 9-11 July, 2025
Livable Cities – London. London, United Kingdom. City University of London. 28-30 June, 2024
Local Culture – Global Spaces. Virtual. University of Melbourne, Louisiana State University, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 05-07 Dec, 2023
Cultures, Communities and Design. Calgary, Canada. University of Calgary. 28-30 June, 2022
Cities in a Changing World: Questions Of Culture, Climate And Design. Virtual. City Tech, New York. 16-18 June, 2021
The City and Complexity – Life, Design and Commerce in the Built Environment. Virtual. City-University of London. 17-19 June, 2020
Alternatives to the Present – Sociology, Development & Planning. Cleveland, USA. Kent State University. 01-02 November, 2018

Books | Journal | Proceedings | YouTube | Conferences

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Abstract Submissions

Click the button below to submit your abstract.

Fee: $415 USD – Queries: info@amps-research.com