31^st International Conference on Urban Planning
and Regional Development in the Information Society

As urban and regional landscapes become more complex, planning is no longer a linear process. It is adaptive, participatory, and often unpredictable. In urban and regional development, planning is both a discipline and a gamble. This conference gathers thinkers and doers to navigate the space between vision and reality – shaping futures one decision at a time.
For three decades, the REAL CORP conference series has been at the forefront of exploring the profound impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on urban and regional development. As we navigate an era of unprecedented change, marked by rapid technological advancements, evolving societal structures, and pressing environmental challenges, REAL CORP 2026 invites researchers, practitioners, experts, activists and policymakers to contribute to the discourse on “Cherish Heritage, Plan Now, Create Future!”

We are witnessing a paradigm shift in how our cities and regions function, are planned, and are experienced. From the pervasive influence of artificial intelligence and big data analytics to the imperative of climate resilience and inclusive governance, urban and regional landscapes are undergoing continuous metamorphosis. REAL CORP 2026 provides a vital platform to critically examine these transformations, share innovative solutions, and collectively envision sustainable and equitable futures.

The REAL CORP 2026 research question is: does technology and especially AI really revolutionise everything? Even CITIES, the biggest invention of mankind?

New technologies and especially AI lead to many changes in all aspects of life, including in cities and regions and, of course, in planning processes. Still cities and regions are not primarily a playground for “new technologies” but the main goal is to have sustainable, resilient and above all livable environments. The soul of a livable future often lies in adequate density, adaptive reuse, green infrastructure, and places where communities thrive, with eco-conscious urban design, human-scale architecture, and inclusive public spaces!
All this has to be planned, created, maintained and eventually renewed.

Planning is always an effort of many contributors and planners have to be part of all urban planning efforts – be it as experts, visionaries, strategists, co-ordinators, moderators and mediators, advocates and sometimes opposers. LET’S PLAN TOGETHER!

Who Should Participate?
Urban planners, regional developers, academics, architects, sociologists, economists, engineers, and all professionals passionate about shaping the future of cities and regions are warmly invited to join.

Call for papers – invitation to present and publish your work 
Contribute to REAL CORP 2026!
We welcome high quality theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions across a broad spectrum of topics, including but not limited to:

Key Thematic Areas

• Affordable Housing as a Global Challenge: addressing the global housing affordability crisis through policy, innovative strategies, inclusive housing, state-of-the-art planning and construction methods, flexibility and mixed use, innovative materials, design solutions,community-led initiatives, financing tools.
• Quality Refurbishment, Conversion, Redevelopment: heritage and urban identity preservation during urban transformation
• Climate Change, Resilience, Sustainability: low-carbon and energy-efficient urban development, nature-based solutions and green-blue infrastructure, climate-responsive design and resilient architecture,urban resilience strategies and circular economy concepts, digital tools and AI – solutions enhanced by learning from the past and the present
• Bridging Heritage with the Future – Protect, Adopt, Reuse: focusing on innovative approaches when repurposing existing structures to meet contemporary needs while respecting their historical significance, fostering public engagement and interim utilisation. as well as leveraging digital tools (e.g., BIM, 3D scanning, virtual reality)
• Smart Cities and Regions: revisiting the levelof smartness suitable for a better life, required amount of digitisation, the impact of a technology-driven world, as well as citizen engagement and co-creation as strong methods of planning: in smart contexts, and means of compounding the benefits of human-centred and technology-driven planning
• Small and Medium Size Cities: smart, sustainable, resilient, innovative with best quality of life. Are these cities the crucial arenas for global urbanisation, offering agility and potential for innovative solutions applicable to both larger metropolises and smaller regions and alsorural areas? 
• Securing the Prospects of Rural Areas: planning for sustainable rural development, addressing demographic shifts and regional inequalities while promoting local resilience by resorting to innovative infrastructure solutions, service delivery and smart technologiesand inclusive development; balancing growth between urban cores and rural peripheries; policies for equitable access to services, jobs, and housing; social innovation and community resilience in underserved areas
• Governance Models for Metropolitan Regions: multi-level governance, inter-municipal cooperation, and regional alliances; policy integration across sectors and administrative borders; innovative public-private partnership models and financing strategies
• Spatial Justice and Public Space Design: designing inclusive, accessible, and gender-sensitive spaces; planning for marginalised communities and cultural minorities; Reclaiming public space in privatised or contested environments
• Future of Mobility and Transportation, “Non-Mobility”: reconciling the transportation system as a whole with current integrated transport systems, digital logistics and urban freight, micro-mobility solutions, as well as with innovations such as autonomous vehicles and MaaS (Mobility as a Service) claiming to reduce “physical mobility by unnatural means” overall and examining their implications on cities, settlements and the environment, extensive replacement of physical mobility by ICT
• Data-Driven Planning and Governance: the benefits of big data, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning, BIM and sensor networks,notwithstanding ethical considerations and data privacy regarding urban and regional data
• Digital Urbanism and Urban AI: ethical use of AI in urban governance and planning; digital twins and simulation models for city management; cybersecurity and data privacy in smart cities
• New Urban Economies and Innovation Districts: better ways of accommodating new economic transformations, start-up culture, …) which have emerged as a result of technological and social change in a historically evolved urban landscape by improving mixed use planning
• Disaster Prevention, Disaster Management, Post-Disaster Planning: finding new ways of using planning resources to cope with the profound changes of the global climate due to ever-increasing exploitation of the world’s natural resources,and to combat their adverse effects on natural landscapes and climate zones, aiming to preserve entire regions and settlement areas for the future, as well as to rebuild them after man-made catastrophic events

For all these topics REAL CORP 2026 asks especially about

• The role of urban planning and related disciplines;
• Digitisation and technological innovation;
• Short term measures, long range perspectives;
• Ongoing research, new ideas, best practise examples, case studies.