62nd AND 63rd INTERNATIONAL MAKING CITIES LIVABLE:

TWO IMMERSIVE BACK-TO-BACK CONFERENCES WITH STUDY TOURS!  

 

1.    “What Is the 'Architecture of our Time' – And Who Gets to Say?”

       Research and Debate on the Architecture of the Urban Future

       11th to 14th September, 2025, Potsdam, Germany

 

2.    “How Can We Revive Damaged Parts of Our Cities?”

        Research and Workshop on Frontier Challenges for the Urban Future

        18th to 21st September, 2025, Figueira da Foz, Portugal

​

THEME: As Europe steps into a clearer role as a leading global superpower, many of its cities are undergoing a renaissance – recognizing their own collective treasuries of enduring solutions to timeless human and planetary challenges. European cities and towns, like others around the world, are recognizing the increased importance of international peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing and collaboration. At the same time, old habits and assumptions are giving way to new scientific understanding of the human factors of our urban world, and the opportunities we have to meet contemporary challenges.

 

CITIES MATTER, NOW MORE THAN EVER. Our cities, towns and suburbs are where we interact, move about, consume resources, develop and deploy our technologies, and create most of the impacts we are having on Planet Earth, and on each other. In that sense, our settlements are major contributors to our challenges – but they also offer an important platform for joining up key issues of emissions and contamination, resource use and depletion, and ecological destruction, as well as opportunities for equitable human development, health, and well-being.

 

Our cities and towns and are also emerging as key platforms for essential global collaboration and knowledge exchange between peers. While the focus is often on big “star” cities, a key arena of future stability and flourishing will be in the smaller towns and “left-behind places,” where opportunity and quality of life have too often been neglected, or treated with tokenistic remedies – with unsustainable consequences.

 

The IMCL conference series, begun in 1985, is a unique international conference series of city leaders, researchers, practitioners, and allied international partners, sharing the latest knowledge on effective tools and strategies to meet our urban challenges. We gather in beautiful and instructive case studies, meeting with local leaders to gain first-hand knowledge on their successes and lessons learned. We also examine other case studies from around the world, as well as the latest research on urban challenges and successes.

 

Our last conference in Cortona, Italy in November 2024 included over 50 leading speakers from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Attendee comments included “Truly a great conference,” “Fabulous sessions… Wow!,” “It was terrific,” “Thank you for hosting this magnificent event!” and “Thank you for the great conference sessions… [and] the knowledge sharing and inspired messages from people from around the world.” 

 

IMCL 2025 CONFERENCES – A UNIQUE PAIRING

 

Our combined 62nd and 63rd conferences will occur in two European cities, one week apart: Potsdam, Germany, and Figueira da Foz, Portugal. These two cities not only have distinctive building cultures, lessons, challenges, and opportunities, they also allow us to examine livable city challenges at two scales: the scale of buildings, and the scale of urban fabric. Between the two conferences, held over extended weekends, we will have opportunities for study tours and exploration of both rich regions.    

 

Partners in the conferences will include the Congress for the New Urbanism, The King's Foundation (UK), INTBAU, UN-Habitat, Seaside Institute, HealthBridge, PlacemakingX, and several universities, as well as others to be announced.

 

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

 

The International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) invites you to share your work, meet and discuss with others, and join in this unique international collaborative platform.  We will gather internationally prominent policy leaders, practitioners, community leaders and top scholars, to share lessons and discuss potential collaborations.  A major aim of the conference will be to serve as a “springboard” toward new research, new collaborative action, and new ways of communicating and driving the necessary transition ahead.

 

TOPICS: You may contribute an abstract describing your work (to be presented at either conference, and also developed into a full conference paper if you wish) on any one or a combination of the following topics:

 

•    The Place of Revival in Architecture and Urbanism

•    Great Public Spaces for ALL: Learning from Potsdam, and Elsewhere

•    Cities on Foot: The Power of Urban Walkability and Public Transportation

•    The Place of Beauty: Neuroscience, Health and Sustainability in Placemaking

•    Slow Food, Slow Cities: Food Quality, Health, and Urban Well-being

•    Markets and Marketable Local Products: Viable Small-Town Businesses

•    The Next Renaissance? Rebuilding Homes, Neighborhoods and Towns

•    Zoom Towns, Left Behind Places, and Opportunity for All

•    Jane Jacobs and the Power of Diversity, Equity, and Web-Networks

•    Christopher Alexander and the Power of Patterns, and Timeless Ways of Building

•    Building Better: Tools, Strategies, and Design Ideas

•    Rapid Urbanization: Implementing the New Urban Agenda

•    Climate Change and Urban Form: Mitigation, Adaptation, Resilience

•    Financial Tools and Externality Feedbacks: Making It Pay

•    Sustainable Infrastructure: Complete Streets, Regenerative Utilities and Transit

•    Access For Everyone: Bringing the Benefits of Livable Cites to ALL

•    The Ecology of Place: Concepts, Metrics, Practices

•    Learning from Nature, Culture, and History for Contemporary Challenges

 

Papers will be published in the conference e-reader, to be shared with all attendees. They will then be published as 61st IMCL Proceedings on Academia.com, with a publication DOI number.  There are also other options for subsequent publication in affiliated peer-reviewed journals, following attendee comments and revisions – contact us for more details at the email given below.  

 

ABOUT THE VENUES:

 

Potsdam, Germany is part of the Berlin metropolitan area, and easily accessible from the Berlin Brandenburg Airport via the S-Bahn train and other modes. The region offers fascinating and thought-provoking history – not only its 20th century upheavals, but many centuries of architectural and urban history. 

 

Figueira da Foz, Portugal is a popular coastal resort town midway between Lisbon and Porto, undergoing a remarkable transformation. Both Porto and Lisbon are excellent gateways, with train service connecting to the city.  

 

DEADLINES:

 

Abstracts for both conferences are due July 31, 2025

Notifications will occur by August 15, 2025

Speaker registration is required by September 1, 2025

Papers must be submitted for the e-reader by September 1, 2025

 

REGISTRATION FEES:

 

Accepted speaker registration for one conference is $595.00 (approx. €573 EUR)

Early Bird registration for one conference (non-speaker) also $595.00 (through May 31)

Discount registration (non-speaker) is $695.00 (through July 30)

Full participant (non-speaker) registration is $795.00 (after August 1)

Student Poster Presenter registration is $295.00 (approx. €284 EUR, ID required)

Student (non-speaker) registration is $245.00 (approx. €236 EUR, ID required)

 

DISCOUNT FOR BOTH CONFERENCES: 20%.

 

SCHEDULE AT-A-GLANCE

 

Thursday, September 11, 2025

   9AM Optional Tours

   5PM Welcome Reception (Potsdam)

 

Friday, September 12

   8AM Registration

   9AM-5:30PM Conference (Potsdam)

   7PM Evening Activity (TBC)

 

 Saturday, September 13

   8AM Registration

   9AM-5:30PM Conference (Potsdam, continued)

   7PM Evening Activity (TBC)

 

Sunday, September 14

   8AM Registration

   9AM-5:30PM Conference (Potsdam, continued)

   7PM Evening Activity (TBC)

 

Monday, September 15 – Wednesday, September 17

   Optional Tours TBA

 

Thursday, September 18, 2025

   9AM Optional Tours

   5PM Welcome Reception (Figueira da Foz, Portugal)

 

Friday, September 19

   8AM Registration

   9AM-5:30PM Conference (Figueira da Foz)

   7PM Evening Activity (TBC)

 

 Saturday, September 20

   8AM Registration

   9AM-5:30PM Conference (Figueira da Foz)

   7PM Evening Activity (TBC)

 

Sunday, September 21

   8AM Registration

   9AM-5:30PM Conference (Figueira da Foz)

   7PM Closing Party

 

We hope you will join us for one or both wonderful conferences!

 

Michael W Mehaffy, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Lennard Institute for Livable Cities / IMCL

michael.mehaffy@livablecities.org