UERA Conference 2026
This international conference is organized by the Urban Europe Research Alliance (UERA) and hosted by the Institute for Urbanism and Regional Development (IUAR), the research unit Societies, Actors and Government in Europe (SAGE) and the Interdisciplinary thematic institute MAKErS – Making European Society, at the University of Strasbourg.
Join them from February 4 to 6, 2026, in the SystR Pilot, Strasbourg, France.
Energy, food and ecological system transitions are linked to climate and social issues, as the consequences of rising greenhouse gases and fossil fuel-related use have become the calling card of the Anthropocene, and social conflicts and democratic crises are on the rise. Although the call for climate action has become an urgent priority among policymakers, economic actors, NGOs and citizens, an obvious paradox remains. On the one hand, thinking about and through the Anthropocene, which directly associates a geological era with a human civilization, includes calls for global change that articulate a critique of contemporary urban societies with projections towards a different, imagined way of doing things. Sustainable urban transition is not seen here as a simple shift from one situation (A) to a supposedly better situation (B). Instead, it is conceived as the ability to actively engage with socio-spatial environments based on specific transformative capacities and capabilities. The UERA conference will be of particular interest to scholars interested in systemic perspectives that go beyond mere command and control or dependence on a fixed set of normative frameworks.
Sustainable urban transition is not seen here as a simple transition from one situation (A) to a supposedly better situation (B). Instead, it is conceived as the ability to actively engage with socio-spatial environments on the foundation of specific transformative skills and abilities.
