In December last year VASAB launched an application for the Young Planners’ Contest “Liveable Places and Spaces of Tomorrow”. Contest’s aim is to bring together young professionals and give them a chance to create a network of next generation planners by expressing their expectations and perspective of the future of the Baltic Sea Area.

VASAB received more than 70 applications from young professionals and students with wide range of backgrounds among which the most common were architecture, urban planning and maritime spatial planning. Applications included propositions on how to address future challenges of the Baltic Sea Region that could be solved by the spatial planning tools and processes. After evaluating all applications, 40 young professionals representing all VASAB countries were approved to join the Summer Camp in August.

Accessibility, demographic changes, maritime spatial planning as well as climate change are the key themes of the Summer Camp. It will take place on 26-29 August 2019 in Poznan, Poland, where participants will work in mixed international teams and will be guided by experienced mentors to develop the best ideas for the vision of the BSR in 2050. The methodology of the Summer Camp is based on the participants interests and VASAB Long-term Perspective’s policy actions.

Young Planners’ Contest is organized by VASAB (Vision and Strategies Around the Baltic Sea) and has been made possible through funding from the Swedish Institute Seed funding for cooperation projects in the Baltic Sea Region. The project partnership consists of lead partner The Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning and project partners VASAB and the Institute of Socio-economic Geography and Spatial Management at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland).