INTERNATIONAL PLANNERS TO DEBATE GLOBAL COOPERATION AT CONVENTION

Published by webmaster for Royal Town Planning Institute in Communities

The world is changing at a pace greater than at any time in history.

On a daily basis we feel the effects of pollution and climate change. But have you ever stopped to consider how our development impacts on other countries and what we can do to minimise this?

On Thursday, 29 June at the QE2 Conference Centre London, three of the world’s most renowned planners will reveal how they believe that the current way development takes place is unsustainable and what needs to be done to ensure planning is, for the first time, regarded as a truly global issue, requiring global solutions, through international cooperation.

For twenty five years the United Nations (UN) has viewed planning as one of the barriers to achieving sustainable development. But now things are changing.

At last week’s 3rd World Urban Forum significant progress was made at recognising that planning needs to be placed at the heart of the fight against global poverty and climate change.

The highly topical Planning In One World debate at the 2006 Planning Convention,  also takes place in the wake of the historic declaration by the World Planners Congress which saw planners from 83 different nations agree to work together to tackle the challenges of rapid urbanisation, poverty and the hazards posed by climate change and natural disasters.  It gives the UK’s planners the first opportunity to discuss the declaration and the outcomes of the World Urban Forum.

The Convention debate will feature:

• David Siegel, President of the American Planning Association, discussing the lessons from New Orleans and the emergency response to extreme events; and
• Professor Cliff Hague, President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners, discussing planning issues in a global context, incuding climate change, poverty and sustainability.

The session will be chaired by:
• Professor Vanessa Watson, Deputy Director, School of Agriculture & Planning, University of Cape Town

Ends

Press release issued: June 27 2006