CITIES FORUM

🧭 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥’𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦: 𝗡𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗨𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥𝗦 Join us in Barcelona for a special OPEN Side Event at Smart City Expo World Congress 2026! Building a career in urban planning comes with exciting opportunities, difficult decisions and sometimes more questions than answers. Where should you focus your career? Which skills really matter? How can you explore international opportunities or transition into a new field? At CITIES FORUM, we're bringing together experienced urban professionals, emerging planners and the wider urban community for an inspiring and interactive event. Two dynamic sessions: 🔹 Finding Your Direction: Building a Career in Urban Planning An intergenerational conversation about career paths, professional transitions, skills and opportunities. 🔹 Building the Next Generation of Urbanists: Live Mentoring Session Bring your real career challenges and explore possible solutions directly with experienced mentors. Your questions will shape the conversation! 📅 3 November 2026 🕘 09:30–12:00 📍 Smart City Expo World Congress | CC1, Room 1.3 | Barcelona 🎟️ OPEN EVENT Whether you're a student, an emerging urban planner or an experienced professional considering your next move, we'd love to see you there! Bring your questions. Meet your peers. Find your direction. #SCEWC26 #CitiesForum #UrbanPlanning #Mentoring #CareerDevelopment #SmartCities #UrbanProfessionals

🌐𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲. It is for urban professionals who feel they are capable of more, but do not always have the right people around them to challenge their thinking, broaden their perspective or help them see what could come next. Sometimes the problem is not lack of experience. ⭕ It is feeling uncertain about your direction. ⭕Being good at what you do, but not visible enough. ⭕Having an international ambition while your network remains mostly local. ⭕Feeling too generalist, too reactive, overlooked, or simply disconnected from the people who could help you grow. The International Mentoring Program for Urban Planners was created to help change that. -From uncertainty to clarity. -From invisible to visible. -From local to global. -From isolated to connected. -From reactive to strategic. -From confusion to confidence. And at the centre of that transformation is something we consider essential: community. 🌍 2nd Edition starts 26 October 2026 https://lnkd.in/edKUCc5J 🎓 Partial scholarships covering up to 80% of the programme fee are available.

🌐𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲. It is for urban professionals who feel they are capable of more, but do not always have the right people around them to challenge their thinking, broaden their perspective or help them see what could come next. Sometimes the problem is not lack of experience. ⭕ It is feeling uncertain about your direction. ⭕Being good at what you do, but not visible enough. ⭕Having an international ambition while your network remains mostly local. ⭕Feeling too generalist, too reactive, overlooked, or simply disconnected from the people who could help you grow. The International Mentoring Program for Urban Planners was created to help change that. -From uncertainty to clarity. -From invisible to visible. -From local to global. -From isolated to connected. -From reactive to strategic. -From confusion to confidence. And at the centre of that transformation is something we consider essential: community. 🌍 2nd Edition starts 26 October 2026 https://lnkd.in/edKUCc5J 🎓 Partial scholarships covering up to 80% of the programme fee are available.

🎓 𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗨𝗠 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗨𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀. When we started this programme, one of our main ambitions was to create a truly international community where talented urban planners could learn from experienced practitioners, expand their professional perspective and make better-informed decisions about the next stages of their careers. But talent and ambition are not always matched by the same financial opportunities. That is why, for this second edition, we are making partial scholarships 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟴𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲 available to selected applicants. 🎓 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: https://lnkd.in/eBK8cSr6 🌍 Programme information: https://lnkd.in/eH4yhsVN

🌍 GROUND/UP: Gender and the Planned City How does gender shape the way our neighbourhoods are planned, governed and experienced? 👉 Ground/Up, an initiative by Urban Praxis Studio, is a global comparative platform exploring neighbourhood planning, gender and power. It starts from a simple but critical premise: neighbourhoods are not gender-neutral. From housing and public space to transport, climate infrastructure and governance, planning decisions influence who can move freely, who feels secure, who participates in decision-making, and who carries the consequences of poor planning. 🌍 Launching during Urban October 2026, Ground/Up will bring together practitioners from Canada, Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand through a series of structured regional working sessions. Rather than simply exchanging examples, participants will examine their experiences comparatively, identifying the structural conditions shaping gender equity across different planning systems. The programme is led by Urban Praxis Studio, together with regional partners CITIES FORUM, Policy Roots, and Liveable Cities Collective. 📲 Interested in being part of the conversation? Register here: https://lnkd.in/dpUS97sj Scan the QR code to register/apply and join Ground/Up. To know more, check out the link 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dnUqHyAD Let’s examine the planned city from the ground up and ask who our neighbourhoods are really being planned for? #GenderAndThePlannedCity #UrbanPlanning #GenderInclusiveCities #InclusiveCities #UrbanOctober2026 #NeighbourhoodPlanning Ronika Postaria

𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲? You may have the skills, qualifications and ambition to move your career forward. But professional growth is not determined by competence alone. ⭕ 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. -Access to experienced professionals who can challenge your thinking. -Access to people working in organisations, cities and markets outside your immediate environment. -Access to conversations where opportunities, collaborations and ideas begin long before they become public. For many urban planners, especially those working outside the traditional international networks, this can become a real barrier. You may be doing excellent work and still feel that your professional world is too small. You may repeatedly interact with the same organisations, attend the same events and speak with people facing similar challenges. Meanwhile, many of the opportunities you would like to access seem to circulate through networks you are simply not part of yet. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 through this program is about progressively building a professional network that actually matters. 🔹 Move beyond your existing professional circle. Connect with urban professionals from different countries, organisations, sectors and career paths. 🔹 Build relationships around shared professional interests. Develop connections based on real conversations, knowledge exchange and mutual professional value. 🔹 Gain access to perspectives you would not normally encounter. Understand how other professionals approach careers, projects, organisations and opportunities in different contexts. 🔹 Become more visible within an international professional community. Participate in conversations, publications, meet-ups and initiatives where your own expertise can also be recognised. 🔹 Create a network that can continue generating value over time. New collaborations, introductions, recommendations or opportunities often emerge from relationships built long before they are needed. The programme combines one-to-one mentoring with an international community, webinars, Masterclasses, Knowledge Series, meet-ups and exclusive mentor-led content. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁: participants remain part of the CITIES FORUM mentoring community, with opportunities to keep learning, connecting and growing over time. 🌍 The 2nd Edition starts on 26 October 2026. 🎓 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟴𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲 are currently available:🔗 https://lnkd.in/eTxiJrq4 Learn more about the program:🔗 https://lnkd.in/edKUCc5J