The Research Institute for Urban Management and Governance co-hosted the first conference Austrian Chapter conference of ICON.S – The International Society for Public Law. More than 200 participants came to Vienna to present and discuss their research on topics related to Public Law and the Cities.

On September 10, the conference was inaugurated by two insightful keynotes: Ran Hirschl elaborated on the “gap” cities face in constitutional law and how to close it by applying a comparative perspective. Vanesa Castán Broto highlighted the importance of social and epistemic justice in the field of urban climate innovation. The insights of these keynotes was reflected upon in many of the following panel sessions. Thematically, sessions covered issues such as “Justice, Property and Planning for Sustainability” (chair: Verena Madner), “EU Law and Cities” (chair: Teresa Weber) and “Cities as Hubs of Democratic Innovations” (chair: Birgit Hollaus). The second day of the conference on September 11 held another round of diverse panels, on topics such as “Cities, Culture, (Over)Tourism”, “Reflections on Utopia: The Right to the City” or “Cities, Regions and (In)Equality” (chair: Stefan Mayr). Finally, two excursions, which complemented the conference gave participants exciting insights into the Austrian Constitutional Court and Vienna’s Seestadt district.

The lively discussions and the variety of disciplinary perspectives made the conference not only a great success but will continue to inspire our future research on Public Law and Cities at the Research Institute for Urban Management and Governance. Many thanks to all who contributed to this conference!