The Shape of Cities: Urban Planning and Management

Although there is some consensus on how cities should be run, there is still some uncertainty about the crucial ingredients — governance, management and planning. A key element in the mixture is urban planning. For long the dominant model, it has fallen into disfavour, particularly in the developing world. It is now re-emerging as a powerful tool, but which has a changed relationship with management and governance. The purpose of this dialogue will be to focus on the new role of planning vis-à-vis these other elements. The leitmotif of the dialogue will therefore be “planning in a state of flux”. The dialogue will examine the past problems of planning, and then look at current approaches and methods that overcome these obstacles. The dialogue will build upon the contributions of the World Planners’ Congress that will immediately precede the World Urban Forum.

Facilitator:

• Steve Bradshaw, Producer, BBC-Panorama, United Kingdom

Commentators to include:

• John Friedmann, Honorary Professor, School of Community & Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Tasneem Essop, Minister of Environment, Planning and Economic Development, Provincial Government of the Western Cape, South Africa
• Sunita Narain, Center for Science and Environment (CSE), India
• Herbert Girardet, Environmental Consultant and Senior Adviser to Dontang Eco-City, China
• Clif Hague, President, Commonwealth Association of Planners, United Kingdom