Post by UWA Public Policy Institute

Global scholars to reframe the urban periphery at World Planning Schools Congress 2026 🌍🏙️ UWA Public Policy Institute Director Assoc. Prof. Paul J Maginn Maginn will co-convene a major special session at the 2026 World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC2026) in Helsinki, Finland, from 29 June to 3 July 2026. Assoc. Prof. Paul J Maginn joins Professor Nicholas Phelps, University of Melbourne and Professor Roger Keil to convene "Reimagining the Periphery: Urban Planning Beyond the Core"  🏙️📌. Centred on the concept of "peripheral centralities," the session draws on a sustained international research collaboration to generate new theoretical, empirical and policy insights into the role of the urban periphery in planning theory and practice. The collaboration examines what suburbs and urban edges reveal about the past, present and future of cities. During the conference, around 30 papers will be presented by PhD students, early-mid career researchers and senior academics. Contributors span Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. Cities examined include Helsinki, Shanghai, Addis Ababa, Milan, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Budapest and Perth. "I'm looking forward to taking part in WPSC2026, having chaired this five-yearly international congress in Perth back in 2011," said Associate Professor Maginn. "We are excited to learn from our contributors about peripheral centralities in their cities and regions. We look forward to exploring how this session can shape new scholarly publications moving forward."