The Association of European Schools of Planning was established in the late 1980's with the mission of Promoting Excellence in Planning Education and Research, and has more than 150 school members with education programs in spatial planning.

The Quality Recognition program started with the aim to defend, improve and support planning curricula, beyond the recognition delivered through the different categories of AESOP membership. For that reason, was developed a recognition process that will highlight certain dimensions of quality in Planning Programmes.

After a pilot phase, the AESOP Quality Recognition Program is in its 3rd annual edition. In each edition the QR Excellence Editorial Board assesses in a peer to peer process the AESOP member schools' planning programs applications. After a series of interactions between EEB members and Programs' applicants in which each program and its connections with the pre-established criteria are debated, the EEB provides a final feedback about the planning program program. The 2021 - 2022 edition is now in progress.

The Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) has been engaged into the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, through cooperation with other planning schools associations covering the different world regions due to its engagement as an active member of GPEAN (Global Planning Education Associations Network - involving 11 planning schools associations), as a partner of UN-Habitat via GPEAN and is currently applying to join the World Urban Campaign. The main goal of sharing good practices in implementation of the New Urban Agenda, is present in the different roles that each of AESOP’s permanent activities plays in safeguarding the SDGs:
- AESOP Annual Congress: to promote awareness by aligning the congress theme to a specific SDG. In 2022: ‘Space for Species: Redefining Spatial Justice’, SDG 16.
- AESOP Young Academics Conference: to promote awareness by aligning the conference theme to a specific SDG. In 2022: ‘In Search of Well-Being’, SDG 3.
- AESOP Excellence in Teaching Award: to disseminate innovative pedagogical practices that respond to global planning challenges. In 2022: ‘Educational approaches addressing Spatial Planning for Spatial Justice for All’, SDG 16.
- AESOP Thematic Groups (TG): to promote research in diverse SDG areas. E.g., TG Planning, Law and Property Rights (SDGs 11, 15); TG Sustainable Food Planning (SDGs 2, 12); TG Urban Futures (SDGs 7, 10, 11); etc.
- and AESOP Quality Recognition: to promote excellence in learning and education by supporting and sharing best practices; to raise awareness—through QR criteria—about contemporary socio-spatial challenges (e.g., SDGs 10, 16), exposure to the changing global context (e.g., SDG 1, 5, 13, 16).

The European Region has shown visible progress in different sectors, in relation with the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, namely in respect to:

• Climate Action Policies, implemented through the use of cleaner energies and the reduction of energy consumption at different levels (from urban mobility to heating systems); legal frameworks stimulating new governance arrangements (e. g. Renewable Energy Communities;
• Urban Regeneration Policies, addressing problems generated by urban sprawl and by poor services' systems, through stimulating urban compactness and implementing smarter services solutions;
• Higher Education Policies, encouraging students' mobility, broader awareness of societal problems at global level with a strong focus on institutional cooperation between Education institutions within Europe and beyond, and combining practical and theoretical teaching and learning components.

The relevance of contemporary socio-spatial challenges (e.g., SDGs 10, 16), exposure to the changing global context (e.g., SDG 1, 5, 13, 16) in planning programs has several outcomes:

1. The assessment by peers is shared with the AESOP community;
2. The QR program becomes a process in which applicants engage in improving or implementing in the near future changes in their programs;
3. The QR program promotes self-reflection among the teaching staff with impact in the medium-long run;
4. The QR program allows the identification of good practices among the different applicants.

Current Excellence Education Board (2021-2023) is composed by academics from: Aalborg University, Danmark; University of Reading, United Kingdom; University of Belgrade, Serbia; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden; ETH Zürich, Switzerland; University College Dublin, Ireland; University of Aveiro, Portugal; Université Lumière Lyon 2, France.
Programs awarded in the past standard phase QR editions belong to the following institutions: University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; University of Palermo, Italy; University of Torino, Italy; University of Tours, France; Utrecht University, Netherlands; Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland; Politechnico di Milano, Italy; Yıldız Technical University, Turkey
Programs awarded in the pilot phase QR edition belong to the following institutions: Polis University, Albanya; Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland; Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium; University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Bulgaria; Czech Technical University, Czech Republic; Aalborg University, Danmark; Université Fraçois-Rabelais, France; Université Lumière Lyon 2, France; Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany; Hafen City University, Germany; University Federico II, Italy; Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Cardiff University, United Kingdom; Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden; Rabdoud University, Netherlands; Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway; University of Lisbon, Portugal; University of Aveiro, Portugal; University Lusófona, Portugal; Technical University of Madrid, Spain; University of Newcastle, United Kingdom; and Université Grenoble Alpes, France.