Introducing the AoU's Strategic Priorities 2026-29

Over the last twenty years, the Academy of Urbanism has successfully engaged a community of international professionals across disciplines, to share learning, experience and, identify exemplars of great places. 

As the AoU enters its third decade, it faces the twin challenges of building organisational resilience and remaining relevant, both to increasingly fragmented and pressured professionals and also to a public more attuned to what good urbanism and placemaking entail. With an increasingly dynamic competitive market for placemaking activities, this challenge is not small. In short, the world has changed since 2006, and we need to keep pace.

The AoU Board and staff spent time during 2025 reflecting on two decades of the organisation and our current operations in order to determine vital priorities for how we enable another 20 years of activity. As part of that, the Board and staff identified the need for a sharpened purpose/mission statement that more fully articulates the AoU’s uniqueness. We agreed three core priorities to guide the organisation’s activity over the next 3 years: 

• Securing a Resilient Organisation
• Ensuring a Connected Community
• Extending Meaningful Impact

To realise this, we identified an action-oriented pathway forward. You’ll find details in the PDF linked below. Together with the rest of the Board and our Exec Team we will continue to facilitate learning related to great places, and make the case for improved urbanism with shared ambition and renewed energy. 

We can only do this with the support and commitment of the AoU membership and look forward to moving the Academy forward with you.

Matt Lally and Shane Quinn
AoU Co-chairs