47th ISOCARP Congress
Wuhan, PR China

Wuhan, PR China
ISOCARP International Society of City and Regional Planners
UPSC Urban Planning Society of China
The People's Government of Wuhan Municipality
UN-HABITAT For a Better Urban Future


The theme of the 47th Congress is: Liveable Cities - Urbanising World, Meeting the Challenge. This theme reflects the central problem of the acknowledged world wide phenomena of the exponential and inexorable inward flow of people to cities and the consequent rapid expansion of urban development. The city of Wuhan, with its ever increasing population base, has acknowledged the importance of this Congress Theme especially with regard to learning how their particular range of urban, transportation congestion and spatial problems are being dealt with sustainably across the Globe. 
The Congress will support four workshops exploring the major theme in terms of low carbon environments, sustainable networks, all transportation pathways including waterways, recreational provisions, Heritage and the Green Environment.


WORKSHOP THEMES
WORKSHOP 1 
• Implementing Low Carbon Urban Environment
This Workshop will bring together papers and case studies focussed on the development of a low carbon environment, and strategies and solutions which are specifically designed for urban areas and which will secure the reduction of carbon emissions. Concrete examples of completed projects that could serve as good practice paradigms are particularly welcome. The submissions will also explore the effects that the rapid development of cities and their spreading metropolitan hinterlands create on rural areas and development of the rural economy in particular. Case studies exploring these issues as they relate to the specific geographic, cultural or development settings will serve to enhance discussion on how local conditions lead or influence local responses and actions. Papers should present policies, plans and projects, as well as demonstrate innovative solutions regarding planning methods, techniques and planning and design standards to be used in creating and monitoring urban environment.

WORKSHOP 2
• Building Sustainable Network
Creating and sustaining low carbon open spaces and non-built environments, developing sustainable networks of waterways, green and blue networks, open space provision, recreational facilities and green photosynthetic spaces as part of the green infrastructure, will all be explored in this parallel session. Building and sustaining these networks in less favorable climatic conditions e.g. in dry, wet, extremely cold or hot areas, will provide a particular input here by drawing attention to the relevance of climate and geography. This will be followed by focussing on the role leisure plays on urban liveability and its growing impact on urban landscape. Papers and case studies from different countries with specific regional and local characteristics will examine these issues as they relate to furthering green smart growth and enhancing urban liveability.

WORKSHOP 3
• Transportation Networks - Making Sustainable Transportation a reality
This parallel session will focus on mobility and accessibility, and making the sustainable transportation a reality. Papers will investigate sustainable transport methods and procedures to link transport to the requirements of a low carbon environment and quality urban liveability. Contrary to past practices, where transportation was merely a functional system and part of the city infrastructure, nowadays it plays an important role in the development of an integrated environment and the creation of transit oriented development. Case studies and examples from all around the world on transportation with low environmental impact, especially those that are space-saving and which promote sustainable spatial, social and economic cohesion and liveability, will be discussed and explored. Special attention will be given to public transport, biking and pedestrian friendly

WORKSHOP 4
• Heritage and Environment: Retro and Reuse in Transition 
In this session, special attention will be given to heritage and the environment in a search for planning responses which have either enhanced or propose to enhance the quality of the built environment. The questions of particular interest to be explored in this Workshop will evolve around identity as a key factor for safeguarding heritage or, indeed, reinventing it. The planner’s contribution to reconciling the “all alike places” and their genius loci, with regeneration schemes as they emerge from sustainable practices and which are firmly focused, at the same time on local uniqueness, local culture, ambience and distinctive urban character, will be fully explored.

WORKSHOP 5
• Regions and Hinterland looking toward liveable Environment
Participants in this session will closely explore strategies, solutions and relevant issues of developing liveability on a regional scale. These case studies shall focus on larger spatial entities, like urban clusters, networks of cities and towns, metropolitan regions, specific regional areas with cultural, natural or environmental values, or any other spatial category that exceeds the scale of a single city or town, and hold liveability as the key component in developing their policies, plans and projects. This workshop will examine workable concepts and solutions for creating and/or keeping regional liveability, and will provide a basis for further improvements and refinements of actions that regions are already undertaking to solve their problems. Case studies presented and explored here will make a catalogue of ideas and strategies planners can use when dealing with liveability on a large scale.

PAPER SUBMISSION 
10 August 2011:
Deadline full Paper Submission
October 2011:
During the workshop invited authors have to present their paper in a Powerpoint Presentation
From 15 August onwards:
All web visitors will have access to the Paper Platform. 
Selected Papers will be put on a CD Rom to be handed out at the congress

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE (2010-2013)
• Andreas Schneider, Switzerland (Chair)
• Terence Byrnes, Australia
• María Teresa Franchini, Spain
• Shipra Narang Suri, India
• Mairura E. Omwenga, Kenya
• David Prosperi, USA
• Nan SHI, China
Co-opted Member China:
• Prof Zhang Jie (Tsinghua University)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
• Joan Clos 
Appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) by the United Nations General Assembly, Dr. Joan Clos took office at the Programme’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya on 18 October 2010. Born in Barcelona on 29 June 1949, he is a medical doctor with a distinguished career in public service and diplomacy. He was twice elected Mayor of Barcelona serving two terms during the years 1997-2006. He was appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain (2006-2008) under President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
• Zef Hemel
Zef Hemel is deputy managing director of the Urban Planning Department of the City of Amsterdam. He is responsible for strategic planning on a local and regional scale. Since 2004 he has been working with his team on planning innovation in the most radical way. The need for a different, bottom up approach has never been as urgent as it is now. The new approach is labelled Open Planning or Soft Planning. It searches for new forms of urban development that reinstate human needs as the pivotal concern.
• Pierre Laconte
Pierre Laconte is a Belgian urbanist, born in Brussels, Belgium. He specialises in urban transport and architectural planning and environmental issues. He has a Doctorate in Laws and a Doctorate in Economics from the Catholic University of Louvain and Dr honoris causa, Napier University, Edinburgh. Laconte is one of the three planners in charge of the Groupe Urbanisme Architecture.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND CONTACTS:
ISOCARP Website
47th ISOCARP Congress Website