Shortly after I became a member, I was invited to be 'spotlighted' on their website https://isocarp.org/activities/isocarpolis/isocarp-spotlight/spotlight-5-september-2021-michael-geller/ . While I tried to attend a congress last year in Doha, unfortunately I was prevented by Covid restrictions. However, I decided to attend the recent 58th congress in Brussels where Covid appears to be a thing of the past. https://isocarp.org/58th-wpc-brussels-2022/
The theme of the conference, From Wealthy to Healthy Cities resonated with me since in 2002 I attended a Smart Growth conference on a similar topic in New Orleans when I was first planning UniverCity. Returning from the conference I gave a few speeches, one of which attracted the attention of Glynnis Whiting. She subsequently produced a film for David Suzuki's The Nature of Things that examined the correlation between density and obesity, and featured UniverCity and Larry Frank, formerly a UBC professor. https://www.nfb.ca/film/weight_of_the_world/
This conferenced examined international perspectives on a wide range of topics from 'The 15-minute City' to how best to encourage the use of wood in European construction. My favourite keynote speaker was Charles Landry, who I previously met in Winnipeg in 2008 when Jay Wallenberg and I were admitted as Fellows of the CIP.
Landry https://charleslandry.com/ is the author of The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators. Along with Richard Florida, he has become a leader of a movement that rethinks the planning, development, and management of cities. He has parlayed his book into a successful career as a keynote speaker who travels around the world giving talks and getting ideas for subsequent books, many of which are available for free downloading here: https://charleslandry.com/books/
One of his current themes is the Creative Bureaucracy which is well worth checking out. https://charleslandry.com/themes/creative-bureaucracy/ Here are just a couple of slides from his talk.
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| I liked this image showing how some property owners were revitalizing their neighbourhood by painting their homes different colours since it reminded me of Tirana, the capital of Albania where Mayor Edi Rama, an artis, initiated a revitalization program by encouraging the painting of buildings in outrageous colours and patterns. Not only did this have a beneficial impact on the city, it may have led to Rama becoming prime minister of Albania! |
While many of the conference sessions were interesting, the quality was uneven with too many esoteric presentations by PhD students for my liking. However, the tours of projects around Brussels were very worthwhile, as were the social programs, including an opening night reception at the Brussels City Hall, overlooking the Grand Place.
At the conference I met some fascinating people including Dr. Apostolos Kyriazis, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at Abu Dhabi University, who suggested that he and I undertake a joint research study on how the work by Larry Beasley, Jody Andrews and others has benefited Abu Dhabi. I think we should also look at how Abu Dhabi can offer lessons for Vancouver!
I also enjoyed meeting Manfred Schrenk from Vienna. We discussed how Vancouver wants to copy his city when it comes to affordable housing. He shared some information about a significant conference he is organizing in Vienna. Here is a link since it might be a good opportunity for some of you to see Vienna and enjoy learning about some of the planning initiatives taking place around the world. https://www.corp.at/Download/
Here are two ladies I very much enjoyed meeting. They are based in Romania and hopefully one day I will get to visit them.
As the ISOCARP conference taught me, there is much to be gained from seeing how different cities around the world are tackling many of the same problems facing our city, oftentimes with considerable success.
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