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International Planners' Meeting 2025

The international planners' meeting took place in Bochum (Germany) on June 5 and 6, 2025. It serves to provide mutual information and joint discussion of current issues and fundamental questions of spatial development. The conference theme was “Water in urban and spatial development”.

4 große schwarze Machinen in einer Fabrikhalle

© Sibylla Zech

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Hansa Kokserei_1

Teich mit roten Rohren im Hintergrund und Seerosen

© Sibylla Zech

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Fabrikhalle mit einer Menschengruppe drinnen

© Sibylla Zech

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eine Fabrikhalle mit 4 großen Maschinen

© Sibylla Zech

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Raum aus Beton mit einem Baum im Vordergrund, Menschen sitzen auf Stühle

© Sibylla Zech

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Since 1962, an International Planners' Meeting has been held annually with delegations from the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Prof. Sibylla Zech from the Research Unit of Regional Planning and Regional Development attended the conference on June 5 and 6, 2025 as part of the delegation from Austria.

Current topics of the country reports were the ongoing reforms in planning, building and environmental law in connection with the energy transition and the housing shortage. An important finding from the exchange was that climate adaptation and protection measures are an integral part of high-quality urban and inner-city development.

In addition to the delegations' reports, the program included various tours, including a visit to the Hansa coking plant in Dortmund, which will host the International Garden Exhibition, opens an external URL in a new window in 2027. The delegation also visited the water cross in Castrop-Rauxel with the bridge structure “Sprung über die Emsche, opens an external URL in a new window” and the “Emscherland, opens an external URL in a new window” nature and water adventure park.