Inplalabs

30/12/2025

📘 New InPlaLabs Open Educational Material now available

We’re excited to share a new InPlaLabs Open Educational Resource:
“Annotating key concepts of integrated spatial planning – Our contribution to the evolving dialogue on integrated planning” led by Sustainable Mobility Unit, Society and Urban Form (SURF) Research Lab, and Commonspace Co-op
Available here for download: https://helios.ntua.gr/pluginfile.php/326983/mod_folder/content/0/Key%20concepts%20for%20integrated%20planning%20discourse.pdf?

This collection critically examines key concepts shaping contemporary integrated planning and public space discourse, as used across both professional practice and academic research.

🧠 The concepts explored include:
Integrated spatial planning, urban sustainability, spatial & mobility justice, transport equity, accessibility and the 15-minute city, data-driven planning, inclusive planning, co-creation, urban health, and green & digital skills.

Rather than offering a simple glossary, the material is designed for a more advanced audience. Each concept is approached through:
• its mainstream or commonly accepted definition
• key debates, critiques, and contested meanings in the literature
• reflections on how the concept is applied (and sometimes misapplied) in planning practice
• carefully curated references for deeper reading

✨ The aim is not to fix definitions, but to open them up — encouraging planners, researchers, and students to engage critically with the terms they use, question assumptions, and understand how concepts evolve across contexts and power relations.
📚 Part of the broader InPlaLabs Open Educational Resources, supporting reflective, evidence-informed, and socially aware integrated planning education.



Sustainable Mobility Unit
Department of Architecture University of Cyprus
Commonspace Co-op
Urban Calculator
Bond Of Union

29/12/2025

🎓 More student project work from the InPlaLabs Knowledge Sharing Workshops

As the year comes to a close 🎄, we’re happy to share another set of student projects, this time from the NTUA Integrated Planning Lab, developed during the final days of the semester, led by Sustainable Mobility Unit and supported by Commonspace Co-op

Student teams worked on a 15-minute city challenge for Athens, creating strategic proposals that bring together proximity and connectivity at the neighbourhood scale. Starting from their own planning vision and priorities, they analysed urban form patterns (density, functional mix, network centrality) and developed scenario-based strategies that link analysis with action.
🧠 The exercise encouraged students to connect vision, evidence, and spatial interventions, while reflecting on trade-offs, feasibility, and how local strategies could contribute to a broader Athens-wide approach.
✨ A fitting way to wrap up the year — highlighting how integrated planning education fosters critical thinking, collaboration, and people-centred urban solutions.
Warm holiday wishes and best wishes for the year ahead!

Sustainable Mobility Unit
Commonspace Co-op
Department of Architecture University of Cyprus
Urban Calculator
Bond Of Union

19/12/2025

🎓 Project work from the InPlaLabs Knowledge Sharing Workshops

During the InPlaLabs summer course led by the Society and Urban Form (SURF) Research Lab, participants worked on a real urban challenge: rethinking parts of the Pedieos Green Linear Park in Nicosia through an integrated planning perspective.

The participants identified a gap or weakness in the proposed master plan and developed a strategic response using tools and methods introduced in the InPlaLabs mini-courses: combining spatial analysis, accessibility, mobility, participation, and evidence-based design.

The outcome? Clear, well-structured proposals supported by maps, diagrams, and scenarios, showing how small, targeted interventions can improve accessibility, connectivity, inclusiveness, and climate resilience in a key urban corridor.
🌱 The exercise helped participants translate theory into practice, strengthen green and digital skills, and engage with the complexity of real urban environments - exactly what integrated planning is about.

Department of Architecture University of Cyprus
Sustainable Mobility Unit
Commonspace Co-op
Urban Calculator
Bond Of Union

12/12/2025

🚀 Our final InPlaLabs mini-course is now online - an interactive deep dive into frameworks for analysing, understanding, and planning cities through an integrated urbanism–mobility perspective!

Led by National Technical University of Athens, this module demonstrates how planners can leverage open data, spatial analysis, typomorphology, space syntax, and proximity-connectivity to translate integrated planning principles into real-world practice.
▶️ Watch the mini-course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUIpm82lB1U
📚 Access all presentations & open learning material: https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20122&lang=en

💡 Highlights:
• Revisiting key principles of integrated planning
• Understanding planning tools & the role of open data
• Introduction to strategic scenario planning
• Demonstration of multiple planning approaches with real examples
• Hands-on exercise: develop your own integrated planning scenario for Athens
✨ Instructors: Yannis Paraskevopoulos, Stefanos Tsigdinos, Ioannis Chatziioannou & Anastasia Christaki

🎓 Open Access for all Learning Materials at InPlaLabs Open Learning Platform https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20122Explore all presentations, vi...

03/12/2025

🚀 Our sixth InPlaLabs mini-course is now online - exploring centrality and accessibility analysis as key components of evidence-based urban design!

Led by Urban Calculator, a research-based spin-off from the Spatial Morphology Group at Chalmers University, this module demonstrates how spatial analysis can meaningfully inform early-stage design decisions and support more robust, evidence-based planning processes.

▶️ Watch the mini-course: https://youtu.be/kOmBl3plEBI?si=2AZrd0t2bKzBGYyr
📚 Access all presentations & open learning material: https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20121&lang=en

💡 Highlights:
• How to interpret centrality and accessibility analysis results
• How spatial analysis contributes to evidence-based design
• Scenario testing and evaluating spatial interventions
• A learning-by-doing exercise for integrating analysis into early design processes

✨ Instructors: Ioanna Stavroulaki, Meta Berghauser Pont & Evgeniya Bobkova

More mini-courses coming soon - stay tuned!



Urban Calculator
Sustainable Mobility Unit
Department of Architecture University of Cyprus
Commonspace Co-op
Bond Of Union

🎓 Open Access for all Learning Materials at InPlaLabs Open Learning Platform https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20121Explore all presentations, vi...

02/12/2025

🎁 Bonus video from the 5th InPlaLabs Mini-course is now available!

We’re excited to share a step-by-step video tutorial on how to implement Space Syntax and other evidence-based planning methods in QGIS, led by Society and Urban Form (SURF) Research Lab (Department of Architecture University of Cyprus)

▶️ Watch the hands-on tutorial: https://youtu.be/R7EA7q8Jyl8?si=OsDGvKn7-S-jY47p

This practical walkthrough complements the main mini-course by guiding learners through the full workflow - from preparing datasets to running analyses, visualising results, and interpreting spatial insights for integrated planning!

📚 Explore all rich material & Open Educational Resources on the InPlaLabs Open Learning Platform: https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20162&lang=en

Whether you're a student, researcher, or planning professional, this tutorial offers an accessible way to apply Space Syntax and related methods in GIS for urban design and spatial planning.



Department of Architecture University of Cyprus
Sustainable Mobility Unit
Commonspace Co-op
Urban Calculator
Bond Of Union

🎓 Open Access for all Learning Materials at InPlaLabs Open Learning Platform https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20162Explore all presentations, vi...

01/12/2025

🚀 Our fifth InPlaLabs mini-course is now live - introducing Space Syntax as an Evidence-based Design & Planning tool, led by the Society and Urban Form (SURF) Research Lab!

▶️ Watch the mini-course: https://youtu.be/SsCZ_k7prB0?si=3qc41yfLnGuw4BNh
📚 Access all materials: https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20162&lang=en

This session offers a clear and hands-on introduction to Space Syntax within Evidence-based Design and Planning. From core concepts to running analyses in QGIS, the course shows how spatial data reveals patterns of accessibility, connectivity, and integration - empowering smarter, evidence-driven planning decisions.

💡 Highlights:
• Key Space Syntax terminology & theoretical foundations
• How to run syntax analysis using QGIS toolkits
• Mapping, visualising, and interpreting spatial results
• Scenario testing & understanding spatial impacts

✨ Instructors: Nadia Charalambous, Mariam Shulqamy, Frixos Petrou and Rafaela Christodoulou

More mini-courses coming soon - stay tuned!



Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρου | University Of Cyprus
Sustainable Mobility Unit
Commonspace Co-op
Urban Calculator
Bond Of Union

🎓 Open Access for all Learning Materials at InPlaLabs Open Learning Platform https://helios.ntua.gr/course/section.php?id=20162Explore all presentations, vi...