The training sessions were interactive and the response from local professionals was more than encouraging.  As a consequence, the Institute is motivated to organise capacity building programmes at future Congresses, as well as quarterly sessions at the international level in the future.

Day 1

The first session was delivered by Pedro B. Ortiz, Senior Consultant & Senior Fellow at NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, who provided an overview of urban regional and metropolitan planning. He focused on the emergence and importance of the conglomeration of cities at the metropolitan dimension in the last decades that has led to a necessary shift in the planning paradigm to address the metropolitan scale. Furthermore, he presented the main features and components which structure the metropolis of the 21^st century, highlighting the main challenges in terms of governance, expansion and finance, as well as reflecting on the principles and actions of an effective metropolitan management.

Moving to the Indonesian context, Bernardus Djonoputro, the President of Indonesian Association of Urban and Regional Planners, presented the Indonesia Most Livable City Index (MLCI), as result of a research to measure the state of liveability in Indonesian cities. Despite the strong diversity characterising the country, the study revealed how in general the largest Indonesian cities are still perceived as less liveable. The research was also the opportunity to present and discuss some challenges in the management of Indonesian cities, such as investing and financing gaps, the empowerment of local governments and the introduction of private public partnership.

The concluding lecture of the day was given by Dhiru A. Thadani, AIA, APA, FCNU, ISOCARP, on the topic of sustainable New Urbanism. The focus was on the centrality of the human dimension and public realm in cities. He illustrated examples of techniques and principles of New Urbanism, a human-scale urban design approach, where walkable blocks and streets, mixed land uses, proximity and accessible public spaces represent an alternative and sustainable model to the ‘placelessness’ of contemporary suburbia.