Today’s planning researchers and practitioners grapple with “big ideas”. From big data to fundamental restructuring of the world’s economy to climate change, the challenges of planning have changed dramatically. These challenges are daunting but they provide unprecedented opportunities for planning to have global impacts like never before. With these big challenges in mind, the Philadelphia conference aims to provide opportunities to address the big issues of today and tomorrow. Indeed, as the birthplace of one of history’s biggest ideas, that of the constitutional democracy, Philadelphia is an apt location to think big.

While the conference—as always—welcomes submissions that address a diverse set of planning issues, the Local Host Committee Co-Chairs and the leadership of the conference have identified possible “Big Ideas” sessions for which we especially invite submissions. The possible Big Ideas sessions and their corresponding tracks are shown below. Abstracts for these sessions will go through the same peer-review process as other abstracts. Authors of abstracts intended for Big Ideas sessions should include the words “Big Idea abstract” and an abbreviated title of the Big Idea session from the list below in one of the key words boxes.

Authors may wish to collaborate to form pre-organized sessions around these Big Ideas sessions. (Please see notes later on submitting pre-organized sessions). Abstracts not accepted for Big Ideas sessions will—like all other abstracts—be considered for other sessions. Individual presenters or organizers of Big Ideas pre-organized sessions may recommend discussants but the Local Host Committee, the National Conference Committee, and the Track Chairs may also recommend presenters and/or discussants for these sessions.

Possible “Big Ideas” topics (organized by track) include:

1. Analytical Methods and Computer Applications: How is “big data” changing planning?
2. Economic Development: (A) Where will tomorrow’s jobs come from? (B) Detroit: A progress report
3. Environmental Planning and Resource Management: What does the IPCC’s 5th Climate Change Assessment Report (AR5) mean for planning in the U.S. and abroad?
4. Gender and Diversity in Planning: How are immigrant communities revitalizing and re-energizing cities in the U.S. and globally?
5. Housing and Community Development: After forty years of the CDBG and Section 8 programs, is it time to rethink federal community development policy?
6. International Development Planning: Slum upgrading: Which programs really work?
7. Planning Education and Pedagogy: Integrating East Asian planning theory and practice into U.S. planning curricula.
8. Planning History: After fifty years of advocacy planning, U. S. metropolitan areas remain severely segregated. Has advocacy planning failed? Did it really ever take root?
9. Transportation and Infrastructure: (A) “The Transit Metropolis” at 15: Global innovations in transit and urban development; (B) Has high-speed rail hit a global plateau?
10. Urban Design: Place-making in Asian mega-cities.