We are pleased to announce that we will run a special track (i.e., set of research paper panels) at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association (UAA), taking place from April 29 – May 2, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois.
The session, titled The City-Region Reimagined: Intersections of Theory, Policy, Practice, and Place, will bring together leading scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to examine the evolving role of city-regions in shaping contemporary urban development, and represents an important opportunity to showcase the intersections of regional studies and urban affairs research. The ICUA Chicago conference is a fitting location to discuss and debate the making and remaking of city-regions, establish new connections, and evaluate interdisciplinary pathways towards better city and regional futures.
This Special Track forms part of the wider International Conference on Urban Affairs (ICUA), organised annually by the UAA, which is recognised as one of the foremost gatherings for urban scholars and professionals worldwide.
The Track organisers invite abstract submissions that:
- Forge new connections between urban affairs and regional studies
- Address broad research and policy agendas; and,
- Offer insights from any discipline at the regional scale.
Papers that are innovative, collaborative, international or multi-disciplinary are particularly welcome.
Abstract Submission Deadline: October 15, 2025
KEY THEMES OF INTEREST (include but not limited to)
- Developments in North American metropolitan governance
- Strategies to enhance regional growth spillovers from urban innovation districts
- Bridging intra-regional divides through infrastructure and innovation
- Promoting sustainable development and environmental justice in metropolitan areas
- City-region planning—from megalopolis to beyond the megaregion?
- Reviving “left behind” places and tackling uneven development
- Deglobalization influences on city-regional disparities and economic recovery
- Circulation and Logistics: transportation strategies for the city region
- Port city regions
RSA TRACK CONTENT
The Track organizers will review all submitted abstracts. Those abstracts that are accepted will require conference registration before they are assigned to a scheduled panel. In addition to the panels formed from submitted abstracts, the organizers have planned three special sessions:
- Colloquy Session on ‘Intersections between Regional Studies and Urban Affairs’
- Panel Session on ‘Ports & Pipes: Regional Infrastructures’ (organized panel sponsored by the RSA’s research network on infrastructural regionalism)
- Book proposal workshop session for the Regional Studies Association’s Regions and Cities Book Series.
For full details of the Conference, please vist the UAA webpage https://urbanaffairsassociation.org/conference/
For details of the call and how to apply, please click here.