SOCIETY & CULTURES

Livable Cities 2026 | Manchester, UK

Critiquing the Urban Renaissance

Society & Cultures

Livable Cities 2026 is an international and interdisciplinary conference and publication series. 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 of Salford, Manchester, UK. It is subtitled ‘Critiquing the Urban Renaissance’.

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

Call Summary

Some 25 years ago Richard Rogers proposed an urban renaissance for cities across the UK. Nowhere is that more evident in the United Kingdom than in the ‘modern renaissance city’ of Manchester. A prototypical post-industrial city, it is the birth place of the industrial revolution. One of the UK’s most important historic locations, it is a national and global transport hub. Central to the UK economy, it has been branded a ‘Northern Powerhouse’.

However, alongside these successes are inevitably the long-term problems that typify cities the world over: gentrification, unsustainable design, social divisions, immigration and unaffordable housing, to name but a few.

Using these contradictions as a starting point for debate and places and peoples globally, this 16th Annual Livable Cities Conference 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:

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….

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….

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….

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

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

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Livable Cities

Research + Publication Program

Livable Cities is part of the AMPS Critical Futures research program that encompasses a range of interconnected issues, from infrastructure, public health and transport to communities, 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 reflecting 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. More details.

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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: $420 USD – Queries: info@amps-research.com