AlmaU Urban Institute has been officially accepted into the Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA) as an associate member. This milestone follows a lengthy application review process that took more than two and a half years.
APSA is a non-profit and non-political association. Its mission is to create platforms for discussing planning issues, exchanging ideas, and reflecting on urban development challenges across Asian countries. It also aims to foster a new generation of scholars and professional planners in the region.
The association was founded in 1993 in Hong Kong and today brings together leading universities from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries.
Importantly, APSA’s geographical scope follows UNESCO’s classification of Asia and includes Central Asian countries – namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Thus, AlmaU Urban Institute represents Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region within this professional community.
Membership in APSA opens up new opportunities for AlmaU Urban Institute:
– participation in APSA’s biennial international congresses, bringing together leading researchers and practitioners in urban planning across Asia;
– access to the association’s academic networks and publications;
– a platform to promote Kazakhstan’s and Central Asia’s agenda in the international professional arena;
– a foundation for joint research and educational projects with member universities from more than ten countries.
Membership in APSA complements the institute’s existing international partnerships.
AlmaU Urban Institute is also a corresponding member of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), one of the most authoritative professional organizations in the field of urban planning education and research in Europe.
Thus, the institute is now part of two key professional communities Asian and European creating a unique opportunity for dialogue between different traditions and schools of thought in urban planning.