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The paper presents the requirements and challenges of urban transitions towards sustainability from the perspective of the SAB of the JPI Urban Europe. Critical reflections on the achievements and identification of gaps in the activities of JPI Urban Europe, based on the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda SRIA (2015–2020), reveal advanced research questions, tasks, and approaches that influenced the development process of the SRIA 2.0 (released in February 2019). The authors emphasize the dilemma approach, the local context and the co-creation concept to pursue urban transitions in real-world context. Considering this frame, they propose specific domains for further research on urban transitions.

In this article we analyse the socio-spatial contexts and consequences of the practice of car parking in housing estates. Fredrik Barth’s idea of socially constructed boundaries and the theory of social practice form the theoretical basis of our analysis. The empirical material comes from research conducted in 2016 and 2017 in three Polish cities. We analyse the practice of parking in terms of the specific aspect of mobility that is ‘mooring’. The research shows that parking practices influence the structuring of territorial communities in housing estates on two levels: everyday activities, norms and rules, as well as social differences and boundaries in the space occupied by the housing estate.

(New) life spaces of young city inhabitants. On the base of the empirical research in Kraków and Katowice The aim of the paper is to analyse the attitude of young city inhabitants towards the traditional urban space (city centre, neighbourhood) and commercial space (the mall). When they spend their time, where are the places important for their individual activity andgroup identities? What role is played in their lives by the urban centre and what by the mall? For teenagers, malls are a “natural” element of the urban space. The empirical research conducted in two major Polish conurbations, Krakow and Katowice, indicates two models of the urban spaces of young city inhabitants: the first one with strong meaning of the city centre (which do not correlate with the everyday practices) and the second with “absent” traditional centre and relatively strong neighbourhoods. It is vital to understand the developing typical relations of young people with urban spaces to see what the “city is becoming”.

Dear Colleagues, Contemporary cities are traversed by a diversity of movements, making them very special locus for analysing society. The ESA's Research Network 37-Urban Sociology-coordination team is working to stimulate scientific debate within the area of urban sociology. In times of digital information, conferences are very important spaces to debate current issues, showcase emerging research and discuss new approaches.