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...

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...

The City of Shantou invited three renowned urban planning and design teams from Europe (KuiperCompagnons & Paul Andreu Architecte Paris), Asia (Ove Arup & Partners) and the USA (NBBJ Architectural Consulting) to participate in the international urban design competition for the Shantou New East Coastal Area. The Shantou New East Coastal Area is regarded as an important function area for future Shantou. The development of this area is designated as an engine for this new round of urbanization of the city and should turn this area into a place to demonstrate the identity of Shantou. Planning and construction of this area will also...

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...