Conference report Space is Luxury: 24th AESOP Congress, Helsinki,7-10 July 2010

摘要

The Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (YTK) at the School of Science and Technology, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, was awarded the 24th AESOP Congress by the AESOP Council of Representatives during the 2008 joint ACSP/ AESOP Congress in Chicago. Since then, the local organising committee (under the supervision of Peter Ache and Mervi Ilmonen) have worked intensively to develop an enlightening programme. Attracting no less than 647 proposals for papers (of which 581 were accepted), some 320 written papers were submitted four weeks in advance of the congress, breaking all previous records of AESOP's history in terms of paper submission. With more than 700 participants from more than 40 countries worldwide presenting and discussing over four full days on the theme of 'Space is Luxury', the 24th congress was introduced as the largest international scientific conference held so far in Finland. Located in the Dipoli conference centre in Espoo (less than 10km west of Helsinki city centre), the congress was organised around 16 tracks and 131 sessions (see Appendix 1). Complementing the track sessions, the programme also included plenary sessions and roundtable discussions together with mobile workshops and social events. The congress also provided AESOP with the opportunity to highlight excellence in teaching and research through its 2010 AESOP awards at the General Assembly (see Appendix 2).