Dr. Carlos Almeida Marques (p)

Sociodemographic statistics show that most of the population lives in the surrounding commuting zones of the cities, what strongly justifies an urbanistic territorial focus on the
suburban/peri-urban areas. New urban practices and theories position these post-suburban areas as self-standing territories, vital to the sustainable urban ecosystem and no longer solely dependent on the central city. By rethinking peri-urban regions not as peripheral extensions but as integral components of a sustainable urban fabric, it is needed to redefine the way urban and suburban integrated planning should be approached.
During the last decades a new social and cultural dynamic has been developing in the suburban areas, characterized by a population that lives and works outside these areas, alongside with a population that lives and works in the peri-urban areas to which is added a retired population (+60 Generation) both living and staying all day long in these areas. In fact, this "permanent resident" population shows a tendency to increase, configuring the formation of a new socioeconomic and cultural logic that requires stronger governance structures and better institutional planning, which improve the capacity to stimulate economic activities and sustainable land-use.
If we intended planning is primordially aimed at solving questioning problems and inducing structural changes, planning processes must make a contribution not only to substantiating these changes but also to mobilising the social forces necessary to fulfil the proposed policies (Albrechts, 1991).
The circumstances described above accentuate the need to continue betting on the trend of recent decades of the polycentric city, which enables access to all public and private services and facilities in an easily accessible area, preferably on foot or by public transport, from the places of residence, also promoting local commerce.
To the historian of science Thomas S. Kuhn, “under normal conditions the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which he concentrates are just those which he believes can be both stated and solved” (Apud Gleick, 1998, p. 37).
The puzzles we have to stated and solved is the urban fabric, mostly made of public space, it was built not under urban concepts of the pre-industrial or eighteenth-century but as a disruptive interpretation of the CIAM functional city, which image is frequently made of complex and entropic spaces, even chaotic areas.

Marina Van Geenhuizen (p), Dr. Heleen Vreugdenhil

Dr. Alexander Petkov (p), Dr. Carlos Almeida Marques

European cities face increasingly complex territorial challenges, including socio-spatial inequalities, fragmented public spaces, environmental stress and uneven regional development. Despite the growing availability of urban data, planning practice often remains constrained by fragmented, non-interoperable datasets that limit comparative and evidence-based analysis. This paper develops a methodological framework for constructing a georeferenced Common Digital Model (CDM) designed to integrate heterogeneous spatial data at neighbourhood scale and enable territorially differentiated urban diagnostics.

Building upon traditions of planning support systems and spatial decision-support infrastructures, the proposed framework systematises data harmonisation, layered geospatial modelling and comparative analytics within a coherent structure aligned with regional science applications. The CDM integrates morphological, mobility, environmental, socio-demographic and participatory layers into a unified analytical architecture. Key indicators—including network centrality, land-use mix, green space per capita and distance to public space—operationalise the model and allow multi-dimensional assessment of spatial performance.

The framework is illustrated through an exploratory comparison of contrasting neighbourhood typologies using openly available geospatial data sources, such as OpenStreetMap street networks, land-use data, green space layers and population grids. While limited in scope, this demonstration highlights how minimal data integration can reveal structurally differentiated territorial profiles. Urban core areas are expected to exhibit higher network integration and functional diversity but lower environmental provision per capita, whereas suburban territories may display greater green availability yet weaker configurational accessibility and lower land-use diversity.

The paper argues that the central challenge in smart urban management is not data scarcity but structural integration. By embedding normative objectives—such as sustainability and inclusion—into measurable spatial indicators, the proposed framework supports more transparent, comparative and territorially grounded planning strategies. The approach provides a replicable methodological basis for analysing urban–suburban differentiation and regional asymmetries within contemporary European metropolitan contexts.

Prof. Tomaz Dentinho (p)

This paper aims to show why people and place-based policies should be grounded on people and place research, using Generalized Q Analysis, and shifting the focus of the research from the features of observed entities into the study of entities associated with combined and evident features of people and places. For the present study “people and places” are the university recent alumni of North Kazakhstan. The “people and place-based policies” are the programs of English proficiency, international mobility provided by the University North Kazakhstan. The literature links regional development with human capital and professional wellbeing, and this with English proficiency and international mobility. The study tries, first, to test this hypothesis using a regression relating professional wellbeing of 1250 alumni with their places of origin, gender, marks, sector of employment, English proficiency and international mobility, but no major evidence is achieved. Then, to test what people and places have higher professional wellbeing, following the Generalized Q Analysis, the 1250 alumni were explained by 10 profiles and, on the one hand, directly related with professional wellbeing and, on the other hand, clustered and related with a differences and differences regression with professional wellbeing. Results indicate that people with English proficiency do not have higher professional well-being because English is not useful for existing follow-up studies and for more common employments. Alumni with professional wellbeing are male, self-employed, urban or rural that attend the students’ mobility activities most probably in a Russian speaking language environment. This clearer evidence justifies more attention to people and place-based approach for people and place-based attitudes and policies.

Dr. Tamás Egedy (p), Dr. Kornélia Kissfazekas

Under state socialist planning, large housing estates were built as inclusive, community-centred environments. These spaces were particularly safe for women and children, reinforced by intense social control and close neighbourhood ties. Our study examines the transformation and use of public spaces in post-socialist housing estates, with a particular focus on vulnerable social groups. The research sample area was the central housing estate of Budapest-Pesterzsébet (20th district). The research is based on a complex methodology; in addition to secondary methods, we conducted quantitative and qualitative primary research (resident questionnaire survey, walking interviews - in-depth field interviews, mental map studies, and mapping of pedestrian movement patterns). According to our findings, community areas that were previously actively used have now mostly become underused, neglected spaces that pose a risk to safety. These changes particularly affect young and middle-aged women and young people, limiting their movement and participation in urban life. Research on pedestrian space utilisation has shown that residents' spatial movement basically follows traditional routes, avoiding originally protected and traffic-free routes. This proves that socially oriented planning and the physical infrastructure created as a result do not guarantee the creation of inclusive, safe spaces that can be occupied by communities. A static public space that maintains its former characteristics can lose its social base. For the population to return to community areas, it is necessary to conduct a detailed assessment of the needs of different age groups and genders, and to take them into account in urban planning and development.
Keywords: state socialist urban planning principles, post-socialist large housing estates, pedestrian use of public spaces, spatial inclusion, safety