For ISOCARP I am responsible for the acquisition and preparation of Urban Planning Advisory Team (UPAT) workshops worldwide. The objective of a UPAT is to mobilize the extensive planning experience and expertise of ISOCARP members in order to help and assist cities and regions with for projects, programmes and policies on spatial planning and urban design. In the week of 15-23 August 2014 I was invited by the UN-Habitat office in Ramallah to prepare a UPAT workshop for an independent Test Planning Exercise for the region between the cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho. This region, that includes East-Jerusalem, is an underdeveloped...

From 2004 till today, there have been some 22 Urban Planning Advisory Teams taking the expertise from both senior and young planners from ISOCARP to numerous places and regions all over the world, to address and probe, together with local and regional experts, challenging planning questions defined by inviting cities and other institutions. Against the background of the 50 years anniversary of ISOCARP in 2015, the ETH Zürich organized a symposium to create an opportunity to discuss the results as well as the longer-term impacts and outcomes from this ISOCARP initiative, to reflect upon those and draw lessons for the future advancement of...

A team of experts of the ISOCARP, the International Society of City and Regional Planners, participated in the first and second International Advisory Conferences for the Jiangbei New District on 11-17 August and 27 October-02 November 2013. During the two conferences the experts observed the field conditions in the vast planning area and were briefed about the 2049 Strategy Planning and 2030 Overall Planning for the Jiangbei New District. The ISOCARP experts carefully reviewed the plans, shared their experiences of related international practices, and initiated sketch sessions in which opportunities and threats of the planning area were...

Shantou is a seaport with 5,4 million inhabitants in the province of Guangdong, People’s Republic of China, and a Special Economic Zone since 1980. The five Special Economic Zones – Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Xiamen and Shantou cities and Hainan Province – represent the most progressive policy for reform and trade. In spite of this special status, Shantou, originally by far the biggest and most prosperous of the Special Economic Zone cities, has been struggling to match the rapid growth of the other four Special Economic Zones. The Institute of Urban Planning and Design of Nanjing University and the Shantou Urban and Rural Planning...

This report is the result of the work of nine planning professionals who took part in the UPAT workshop in Shantou, China, in the period 10-16, March 2013. One of the challenges facing Shantou in the future is to regenerate the historic downtown. The city of Shantou has a 150-year heritage. Now, the Shantou city region contains about 2000 square kilometres and the Shantou central city has about 100 square kilometre with 1,2 million inhabitants. The central city grew from a 0,5 square kilometre old town along an inner sea bay. Whilst the principles of organic regeneration and expansion apply to the city region where new spaces will be...

The workshop was hosted by the Shantou Planning Bureau and the Institute of Urban Planning and Design of the Nanjing University. These institutions were awarded with the 2012 ISOCARP Award for Excellence for the integrated strategy and the focus on sustainability and organic transformation as proposed in The Shantou Strategic Development Plan. Shantou is a seaport with 5,5 million inhabitants in the province of Guangdong and a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) since 1980. The five SEZ’s – Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Xiamen and Shantou cities and Hainan Province—represent the most progressive policy for reform and trade. Even with all these...