Social Equity, Public Health, and Land Policy: where are the connections?
Ellis, Geraint (Queen's University Belfast); Nedovic-Budic, Zorica (University of Illinois; University College Dublin); Williams, Brendan (University College Dublin); Knaap, Gerrit (University of Maryland); Larsen, Larissa (University of Michigan)
The sponsor is the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA, USA.

This special session proposal is based on an international research initiative of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Cambridge, MA, USA) set to explore a conceptual framework that articulates how we can organize issues around planning, land development and equity to include health outcomes. The session explores how Land development policy and planning  directly impacts public health through urban design (housing quality, physical activity), the restriction of healthy lifestyle choices, environmental quality around air, water, and waste disposal, provision of transportation infrastructure, and the cumulative impacts that lead to health inequalities. The research aligns with The United Nations Human Settlements Programme’s Spatial Development Framework which provides a basis  to rethink physical planning and development concerns in  light of rapidly expanding cities and regions. The contributors will review existing conceptual frameworks, propose modifications or alterations, and ‘test’ their effectiveness in logically organizing land development and planning efforts towards the incorporation of health issues. A useful framework includes efforts that vary in scale from the neighborhood to the region and provides the flexibility to incorporate examples from more and less developed nations in ways that compare the substantive issues and challenge categories that may have lost meaning over time. Further contributions will examine a variety of policy directions evident in international practice and explore recent examples of the integration of health issues in planning and public policy. 

Climate Justice in Practice - How Communities in Europe and America Plan to Address Climate Injustices
Organisers: Reckien, Diana (University of Twente); Butler, William (Florida State University); Alexander, Serena (San José State University)

Climate justice has become central to climate action planning practices around the world, since it is acknowledged that disadvantaged and frontline communities will suffer the worst consequences of the climate crisis. To address the causes and consequences of climate change, many communities across Europe and America have developed their own definitions of climate justice as well as unique strategies to protect vulnerable communities. The goal of this session is to assess and analyze innovative ways communities in Europe and America have defined climate justice, and developed and implemented strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. By comparing European and North American case studies, this session can help us understand the practice of climate justice planning from the perspective of professional planners and community activists. Examples of topics discussed in this session include, but are not limited to: strategies to safeguard equitable distribution of climate change burdens and planning benefits (i.e. distributional equity), innovative public engagement practices to ensure an inclusive, transparent and accessible climate planning process (i.e. procedural equity), and action to reverse past harms and dismantle existing structural systems, which cause low-income and minority communities to be disproportionately burdened by the global climate crisis (i.e. structural equity). Lessons learned can help planners define, develop and implement climate justice strategies. We invite scholars from both AESOP and ACSP member programs to submit abstracts that align with this topic.