SAVE THE DATE – First Austrian ICON.S Chapter Conference  “Public Law and the Cities” – 10. /11. 9. 2024, Vienna

The International Society of Public Law (ICON.S) founded an Austrian Chapter in 2022. The promotion and support of early career scholars and the promotion of plurality and interdisciplinarity in research are core values of the Austrian Chapter. Based in the mid of Europe the Austrian Chapter also aims to connect different neighbouring chapters of ICON.S, especially including the CEE Chapter, the German Chapter and the Italian Chapter.

The first Austrian Chapter Conference will focus on the manifold interrelations of public law and the cities. All around the world, cities play a crucial role in addressing the challenges of the 21st century. International networks of cities illustrate new ways of thinking public law. Cities are challenged to give local answers to global problems. Cities are addressed by public law in many ways. Most prominently Ran Hirschl pointed to the constitutional silence regarding cities and claimed a transformation of the constitutional role of the cities. Administrative law transfers competences to cities and cities enforce administrative law on a local level. In that regard, the societal role of cities is steadily increasing.

The conference aims to address the overall concept of cities in public law as well as concrete challenges of the 21st century and the role of cities in dealing with these challenges through public law. The conference is interested in global perspectives towards cities from all continents around the world as well as in particular experiences of the role of cities in Central and Eastern Europe, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The conference will deal with various topics in an  interdisciplinary and comparative approach, including the status of cities in public law, climate change and cities, smart cities, migration, human rights and so on.