DURBAN AWARDED RIGHTS TO
HOST A MAJOR CONFERENCE OF PLANNERS
The province of KwaZulu-Natal has scored another coup The International Society of City and
Regional Planners (ISOCARP)
has today, officially announced the City of Durban and the Province of
KwaZulu-Natal as the official host for the 51st edition in 2016. The
announcement was made in the city of Rotterdam in Netherlands today. ISOCARP
is a global association of experienced professional planners. It was
founded in 1965 in a bid to bring together recognized and highly-qualified
planners in an international network.
A total of 500 urban and
regional planners among them including senior planners who have been involved
in designing major projects such as the Heathrow Airport in London, Schipol in
Netherlands, bullet trains in many European countries will be descending on Durban.
ISOCARP network brings
together individual and institutional members from more than 80 countries
worldwide. Members are planners and other stakeholders involved in the
development and maintenance of the built environment. As a non-governmental
organization, ISOCARP is recognized by the United Nations, the United Nations
Human Settlements Programme and the Council of Europe. The Society also has a
formal consultative status with the United Nations Education, Societal and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Commenting on the Durban
nomination as the host City; councilor Fawzia Peer who represented Durban
Mayor, James Nxumalo "The announcement by ISOCARP to award KwaZulu-Natal
and Durban the rights to host its international congress in 2016 is a
significant achievement for our country in particular and Africa in general,
given the fact that this event will be hosted in Southern Africa for the very
first time.”
Commenting on the news
Cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube, whose
department led the bid process said "we are thrilled to learn that
KwaZulu-Natal and Durban has won the bid. This is important for our country
and province since we will get an opportunity to benefit from the expertise of
experience planners who have been able to design and plan the world networks as
we know it today. This platform will allow us to bring the African
development perspective in to the global agenda. As a country we are
involve in a mammoth project to correct the spatial planning patterns which
relegated many of our people to the periphery of development. We will tap
into their wealth of experience as we are busy re-inventing planning in our
country to achieve spatial justice"
Currently the ISOCARP
meeting is taking place in Netherlands and Durban is represented by EXCO member
Fawzia Moodley and Heinz Deboer, while Mthokozisi Duze, Acting Head of Ministry
in MEC Dube-Ncube's office represent the province.
The conference will
take place in Septermber 2016.
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