With deep sorrow, the PLPR community mourns the loss of Benjamin Davy, who passed away on January 24, 2025, at the age of 68 in his home. Benjamin was an outstanding academic in research and teaching of land policy and spatial planning.

Professor Thomas Hartman writes in memory of Ben:

From 1999 to 2019, he was the chair and professor of Land Policy, Land Management, and Municipal Surveying at TU Dortmund University. During this time, he significantly shaped research and teaching in the field. In his role as President of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR) as well as President of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), Ben Davy influenced and inspired the academic community through his passion for academia. He was a co-founder of PLPR and the thematic group on Planning, Law, and Property Rights within AESOP.

His passion for international academic exchange on theories and philosophy of property, planning, and land policy was evident through statements he made such as how PLPR felt like a “meeting with friends” for him. Even after his retirement, he continued to engage particularly with young academics—such as in the Land Policy Reading Club. Most recently, he served as a guest professor at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa).

Ben Davy will be remembered as an inspiring thinker whose international perspective and comparative approaches to planning, law, and property rights are his lasting legacy. Notably, he introduced the Theory of Polyrationality into the field of spatial planning and maintained an unwavering interest in questions of justice in spatial planning. Recently, he planned to write a book on the rights of nature—another example of his courage in challenging conventional ways of thinking.

Ben Davy will be remembered by the international academic community across the globe as someone who not only constantly questioned conventional wisdom and enriched scientific discourse with new viewpoints, but also as someone who always supported young academics. Many have now lost a valued mentor in him.

On a personal note, Ben was not only my PhD supervisor and my predecessor in Dortmund; he was also a valued colleague and friend. His death leaves a huge void in our lives and work.

We will miss him dearly as a friend and colleague.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hartmann 

Chair of Land Policy and Land Management
Department of Spatial Planning 
TU Dortmund University