Smart Sustainable Cities
- Ric Stephens, ISOCARP President -
The technological wave is growing into a tidal wave that will inevitably encompass mega-cities and cities striving to be more competitive. Smart sustainable cities will incorporate big data, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, ubiquitous sensing and many other technologies to implement sustainability, urban resiliency and regeneration. Smart urbanism merges information and communications technologies; energy, resource and infrastructure technologies into networks that create sustainable, resilient
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regenerative, urban-rural ecosystems with vibrant communities, thriving economies and bio-diverse environments. Over the past several years, more cities and regions are envisioning how technology can achieve smart urbanism goals and objectives. ISOCARP is working with various organisations to further these initiatives. This year we are finalizing our white paper on smart cities; participating in global smart city events; and co-organising a Congress with the theme “Smart Communities.” [see 53rd Annual Congress article]
If you are not a member of ISOCARP, we invite you to join and help explore and define this emerging field of city and regional planning. Membership is more streamlined and can be applied for online at http://isocarp.org/join-isocarp/
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53rd ISOCARP Congress: ISOCARP-OAPA Joint Conference, Portland, Oregon, USA
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ISOCARP and the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association (OAPA) are partnering in 2017 for a Joint International Conference/53rd ISOCARP Congress Portland, Oregon, USA, from October 24-27, 2017.
The conference will bring together leading urban managers, academics and practitioners, environmental designers, entrepreneurs, technology firms from around the world to explore the topic of Smart Communities: From new innovations in communications and driverless technologies to small communities connected to the world through fiber optic, technology shapes what we do.
The joint conference will be organised around six concurrent tracks and sub-themes:
- Technology, infrastructure and buildings
- Governance and inclusive communities
- Culture, community experience and the sharing economy
- Resilience, adaptation and disaster mitigation
- Technology and small communities
- Post-smart communities and the new frontiers.
You can submit a paper, a session proposal or a case study/practical experience.
Submit your abstract here. Deadline for abstract submission is April 24, 2017.
Have a look at the Call for Papers.
Be part of this unique opportunity and join us in Portland in one of the most beautiful times of the year in the Pacific Northwest. Portland is one of the most liveable cities in the world, a welcoming community with great neighbourhoods and districts to explore, and a pioneer city regarding urban growth boundaries management.
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53rd ISOCARP Congress Sponsorship and Exhibition
The 53rd annual World Planning Congress will be held in Portland, Oregon this October 24-27 with the theme “Smart Communities.” The Congress is a collaborative held with the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association’s annual State Planning Conference. It is the first ever ISOCARP Congress in the United States and will incorporate some of the unique aspects of an American planning conference. If your organisation would like to showcase your programmes, projects and smart city technology, please sponsor and/or exhibit at this international event. The Congress topics are designed to encourage innovative planning concepts and practices from both public and private sectors.
Please visit our website for more information on sponsoring this event and exhibiting your creative solutions for smart communities: Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities.
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The ISOCARP Institute – “Centre of Urban Excellence”
Since the Institute’s registration in early 2016, both the Board of Directors and Advisory Board have been pro-active seeking collaborative opportunities and new initiatives. In recent months and as a follow-up to the Institute’s success in co-organising the First Bahrain Sustainable Smart Cities Forum with CEDARE and UNEP in December 2016, a second forum is currently in the planning for September 2017. A workshop entitled “Urban Futures and Smart Cities” is also scheduled next April 2017 in Dubai with ICRD. In the meantime, training programs in Urban Resilience as well as Sustainable Green Urbanism have been developed using UN-Habitat Issue Papers as a standardized foundation. Discussions to promote and deliver such programs are currently underway.
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Additionally, and in quest for global representation and recognition, the Institute has recently been involved in a number of international events among which are the World Cities Summit in Singapore and UN-Habitat III Conference in Quito.
Investigations to explore the initiation of an ISOCARP journal to disseminate accumulated knowledge are also ongoing.
The Institute continues to welcome and encourages Membership to communicate innovative ideas and/or potential opportunities for collaboration to the VP of Academic Development.
In December 2016 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with UniverCities.
The UniverCity project will provide a platform for worldwide innovation linking research to government implementation actions. The proposal is for UniverCity to operate within the ISOCARP Institute to provide a searchable database for government “text mining” and ICT based platform connecting IoT to IoP.
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Mentor and Student Research Lab 2.0 publication is available
Few months after finalising the second edition of Mentor & Student Research Lab the workshop book is finally published in print! It summarises the result of research done by five teams of students and ISOCARP Mentors on the topic “Let’s se@ Vibrant Urban Solutions for Baltic Cities”. The workshop was held in Gdańsk, Poland between March and June 2016. The complete MSRL 2.0 Publication is available for download here. More materials from the Lab are available here.
Would you be interested to take part or host MSRL 3.0? Let us know at msrl@isocarp.org!
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Zhongshan Avenue UPAT team selected
After sending the Call for Candidates for the Zhongshan Avenue District UPAT in Wuhan, ISOCARP has received 42 excellent applications for 6 open positions in the UPAT team. We received 10 applications from female and 32 from male members, 22 applicants were senior members and 20 applicants were young planning professionals. The candidates formed a broad and balanced representation of the membership and expertise of ISOCARP with 4 candidates from North America, 16 from Europe, 6 from the Middle-East, 4 from Africa, 9 from Asia and 3 from Oceania.
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From these applications the Vice President UPATs selected and forwarded a short list of 10 candidates to the Wuhan Land Use and Urban Spatial Planning Research Center (WLSP). For ISOCARP it is important to select a diverse (gender, age, origin, experience) and expertise that is required by WLSP for this specific UPAT, the evaluation of the “Zhongshan Avenue District” in the historic centre of Hankou Town in Wuhan. After careful considerations, ISOCARP and WLSP joinly selected the following team members:
- Mr. Jaap Modder - Team Leader, the Netherlands
- Mr. Frank D'hondt - UPAT Rapporteur, Belgium/Greece
- Ms. Deborah Lambert - Senior Planner, Belgium/the Netherlands
- Mr. Michael Stott - Senior Planner, UK/Canada
- Ms. Taru Jain - Young Planner, India/Australia
- Ms. Mercedes Beaudoin - Young Planner, USA/Denmark
- Mr. Zhe Chen - Young Planner, China
- Mr. Martin Dubbeling - Vice President UPATs, the Netherlands
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All selected team members have accepted their nominations. The team will meet in Shanghai and travel to Wuhan to assist the WLSP with the assessment of the newly opened Zhongshan Avenue District with an emphasis on public space, transportation organisation and economic vitality. The UPAT Team will also make suggestions for the replicability of Zhongshan Avenue Renewal Project in Wuhan and other Chinese cities.
The Zhongshan Avenue will write, illustrate and contribute to one article for ISOCARP Review 13 and one dedicated issue of PLAN Magazine. The results of the Zhongshan Avenue District UPAT workshop will be presented in the UPAT Seminar as part of the ISOCARP congress in Portland, October 24-27, 2017.
ISOCARP is preparing more UPAT workshops in 2017 and 2018. If you are interested in joining of hosting a UPAT workshop, please contact the Vice President UPATs, Martin Dubbeling, dubbeling@isocarp.org.
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Next City Seminar Brussels
A delegation of about 15 members of ISOCARP met in Brussels end of January for the Next City Seminar Brussels. This seminar is the first of a series of working visits in several cities (Seattle, Athens, Antwerp & Ghent) to reflect about the key challenges of urban development, to draw lessons from the observations and find out how to handle energy providing, housing and living conditions, socio-economic development and spatial organization. ISOCARP expresses its gratitude to the Brussels Planning Agency for its hospitality and professional preparation of this Next City Seminar.
The Brussels Planning Agency gained a boost within planners’ community when the Canal Plan Brussels acquired the ISOCARP Award for Excellence 2016. Nevertheless, the Canal Plan Brussels being more a method than a blueprint document, it remains a work in progress of which final objectives evolves within time. Starting from the presentation of the Brussels Canal Plan case and its embedding in an overall area (re)development, the participants reflected on the upcoming urban development and the professional changeover that this entails for the urban planners.
The Brussels Planning Agency led the delegation of ISOCARP members through the area in a well prepared and exiting tour. We were set in the occasion to meet and discuss with many representatives of local and regional, governments, property developers and local entrepreneurs in the Municipalities of Molenbeek and Anderlecht. These meetings and discussions were organized on site. This enabled the delegation of ISOCARP to
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experiences the size and scale of the many sub-projects of the Canal Zone, amongst which the redevelopment of the Bellevue Brewery into a hotel and training centre, the Citroen Garage that will be converted into a centre and museum of contemporary art, and the Abattoirs d'Anderlecht as the leading and diverse food market of the city.
Jaap Modder, one of the 15 delegates that explored the Canal Zone on bicycle, described the area as the 'best kept secret’ of Brussels as it is both an attractive and vibrant part of the city and an excellent example of the transition of the way we plan, design and redevelop our cities. This transition follows the rapid and current changes in our society towards the circular and versatile ‘Next Economy’ and the emerging and smart ‘Next City’ that is livable, inclusive and cherishes bottom-up initiatives. In Brussels we discussed implications for urban planners? Is their role is changing from city planners to facilitators of processes of local developments?
In one of the many interesting exchanges that Brussels Planning Agency arranged in the Next City Seminar Brussels, Kristiaan Borret, the Chief Architect of the Brussels-Capital Region, summarized the strategy for the Brussels Canal Zone into three categories. Firstly, to define clear expectations and regulations for both the continuity of existing businesses and industries in the area, and for the development and attracting new functions and activities. Secondly, to initiate and stimulate multiple small and meaningful interventions. And thirdly to provide and create conditions for experiments and social innovations.
For more information about past and upcoming Next City Seminars, please contact Vice President UPATs Martin Dubbeling (dubbeling@isocarp.org).
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MoUs
In recent weeks, ISOCARP signed agreements of cooperation (Memorandum of Understanding) with following organisations and/or societies:
- SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR PLANNERS – SACPLAN Midrand – South Africa, represented by Martin Lewis Secretary General;
- ABU DHABI URBAN PLANNING COUNCIL - UPC Abu Dhabi, represented by Falah Al Ahbabi, Director General;
- Tehran Urban Planning and Research Centre – TUPRC Tehran, represented by Babak Negahdari, President, and Ali Farhadi, Deputy of Science and Technology;
- Administration of Almaty Region Akimat Kazakhstan, represented by Sultan Myrzabekuly Duysembinov, Head of Administration of Almaty Region Akimat; and
- Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation GIUI Guangzhou, represented by Liu Baochun, Secretary General of Urban Innovation Community Guangzhou.
All cooperation agreements include the development of joint activities such as workshops and events, YPPs and UPATs, as well as knowledge sharing activities in general.
For more information, please check the website: https://isocarp.org/our-partners/memoranda-of-understanding/
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COPENHAGEN URBAN LAB
Call for Young Professionals: Join the Copenhagen Urban Lab on Cloud Bursts!
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Copenhagen is a frontrunner in climate adaptation towards extreme rain events, so called Cloudbursts. Each catchment in the city requires a detailed plan for cloudburst management through mainly green-blue terrain-based solutions. In an Urban lab, a multidisciplinary team of young professionals will contribute to creative solutions to address the complexity of the current reality, both in scale and technicality and bring new thoughts to the planning processes.
Six participants will spend the week of 2nd-9th of June 2017 in Copenhagen developing solutions for the case study of Saint Jørgens Lake. The team will conduct interviews with city water managers and other relevant professionals, participate in site visits and workshops focusing on a specific challenge related to urban hydraulics and urban liveability, all in close cooperation with key stakeholders (e.g. Municipality of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, Greater Utility of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, University of Copenhagen, the Young Water Professionals Denmark and Ramboll).
The outputs of the project process such as an animation, experiences and insights on the opportunities and challenges of managing water for sustainable and innovative cities will be presented at ‘Embrace the Water’, an international Cities of the Future conference in Gothenburg, Sweden held 12-14th June 2017.
Would you like to mix technical knowledge with social and communicative skills and contribute to inspiring more cities on the journey to water-wise cities? Contact eva.promes@iwahq.org for more information and share your Expression of Interest and C.V. by 13th April 2017.
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CeBIT Hannover „Beyond Smart Cities“ - updated programme
ISOCARP is organising an international conference during the CeBIT Fair on March 22, 2017 afternoon in Hannover, Germany, on the topic “Beyond Smart Cities – Towards Smart Urbanism”, which will reflect on the notion of ‘smart urbanism’ instead of uncritically adopting the discourse of ‘smart cities’. High-level keynotes from Prof. Raul Bunschoten, Chora
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conscious city Urban Lab TU Berlin, as well as from Thilo Zelt, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, will address the audience. Speakers Marc Fonda (Doppelmayr), Kai Tepe (TÜV SÜD), Andreas Urban (MICROSOFT), Julie Alexander (SIEMENS), Gereon Uerz (ARUP University), Nicolas Buchoud (Paris), Klaus Illigmann (Munich) and Benjamin Scheerbarth (Berlin) will present and share their approaches and knowledge, followed by an interactive discussion. Doppelmayr, Roland Berger Strategic Consultants and TÜV Süd sponsor the Conference.
For more information, please check the website: ISOCARP @ CeBIT 2017
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HPF activities
Didier Vancutsem, Secretary General, representing ISOCARP, has been elected in Quito October 2016 to chair the Habitat Professionals Forum (HPF), a voluntary affiliation of international and regional associations of Human Settlements Professionals involved in sustainable urban development. HPF aims at fostering the cooperation and partnership between the Human Settlements Professionals and UN-HABITAT through dialogue and partnerships, and by providing leading-edge information and expertise that contribute to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and sustainable urban development.
Several activities started already, including Working Groups preparing the next World Urban Forum 2018 (Kuala-Lumpur) as well as professional contributions to the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and publications on the activities of the HPF members. A new website will go online very soon.
For more information, please check the website: SG Didier Vancutsem Chair of HPF
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ND achievements: Joint event of Swiss and German ND
The traditional meeting of the Swiss National Delegation (ND) with the ND of a neighboring country took place in Germany (Stuttgart) in November 2016. The joint discussion addressed the topic of enforcing the international building
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exhibitions (IBA), while the Stuttgart Regional Economic Development Agency, led by Thomas Kiwitt, is launching a new IBA on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Weissenhof housing estate in Stuttgart. During the expert talks, suggestions for the future orientation of an IBA were exchanged. The Swiss ND was delighted to get to know the new members of the German ISOCARP ND and thanks the regional business support for the friendly welcome. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Nicole Wirz Schneider, the president of the Association of the Swiss ISOCARP members.
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Member News
Dushko Bogunovich, who lived for many years in New Zealand, and worked at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, has a new job in Botswana, Africa. He will be the first Dean of the new Faculty of the Built Environment at a private university in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone.
Congratulations Dushko and good luck.
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Dushko: As of 2016, we have started developing a new Faculty of the Built Environment, Arts and Science, as part of Botswana’s leading private, BA ISAGO University:
http://www.baisago.ac.bw
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While in 2017 we offer only programmes in real estate, quantity surveying and occupational safety,
the ambition is to establish, over the next few years, programmes in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and town planning: http://www.baisago.ac.bw/baisago-faculty/facid/3/built-environment,-arts-and-science/
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Members' profiles
We would like to thank all members who reacted on our request to check and correct their data.
Please make use of the possibility to upload your CV or relevant documents in the members’ area/members' profiles of the website. Search for your name and click ‘ BuddyDrive’. Here you can upload your files and share them with your colleagues.
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Endorsed Events
Myanmar Infrastructure Summit 2017
29-31 March 2017
The 3rd Myanmar Infrastructure Summit 2017 is set to provide a platform for potential foreign investors, infrastructure developers, technology providers and infrastructure funders to be updated on the development plans and policies of investing in Myanmar’s urban and rural infrastructure and at the same time build potential business and investment networks with the local policy makers and industry players.http://myanmarinfrastructuresummit.com/
Smart Parking Qatar
10-11 April 2017 in Doha, Qatar
Developing car park management strategies and innovations for sustainable and livable cities. http://www.smartparkingqatar.com/
Future Play & Playspaces
17-18 April 2017 in Dubai, UAE
Showcasing new opportunities for those who develop, design, build and equip indoor and outdoor play facilities. http://www.futureplayandplayspaces.com/
IJEPR 2017 Conference
20 – 21 April 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal
II International Conference on ‘URBAN e-PLANNING’
With the development and widespread use of new digital tools, a whole range of new possibilities, challenges and opportunities emerged in the field of Urban and Regional Planning. Discussion of new perspectives, approaches, methods, and tools in the field of Urban e-Planning.
https://isocarp.org/events/ijepr-2017-conference/
Future Landscape & Public Realm
25-26 April 2017 in Riyadh, KSA
Specialised conference focusing on developing sustainable design for a liveable, attractive landscape and public realm in KSA. http://www.futurelandscapeksa.com/
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Smart Cities Connect Conference & Expo
26 – 28 June 2017 in Austin, Texas, the United States
The program will once again deliver North America’s largest concentration of C-Level Smart City Leadership working towards innovative solutions for progressive city needs.
http://smartcitiesconnect.com/
AESOP Annual Congress 2017
11 – 14 July 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal
In an uncertain world that is rapidly changing economically, socially and culturally, cities and territories have become the common ground for resilient breakthroughs in the policies and practices of planning and design. These extreme times urge us to shift towards renewed actions in urban and less urbanised territories. http://www.aesop2017.pt/
REAL CORP 2017
12-14 September 2017, Vienna, Austria
22nd International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society
PANTA RHEI
A World in Constant Motion
Mobility is a multifaceted topic with a complex past development. Ideological quarrels, almost religious wars have been fought during the past decades when talking about mobility issues: boundless mobility for free citizens or priority to humane, liveable settlements? Can mobility cost transparency start an overdue restructuring or would it bring down or complete economic system? Expansion of transport infrastructure to shrink distances or shrinking of transport infrastructure for a compact city of short distances?
http://www.corp.at/
SB-LAB 2017 – International Conference on Advances on Sustainable Cities and Buildings Development15 – 17 November 2017 in Porto, Portugal
Proposed topics aim to cover Sustainable Development Goals in order to achieve the contribute that architects, engineers, contractors, politics and the construction industry in general may bring to these goals. http://sb-lab.greenlines-institute.org/
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News that reached us via ‘Share your news with us’ form on our website
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New Book by Purushottam Uttarwar
Delhi-An Emerging Megacity and Region
From Strict Landuse Zoning to Transit Oriented Development(TOD) : There is a paradigm shift in Planning approach for the Delhi Master Plan. Master Plan 1962 prepared by the Ford foundation team introduced strict landuse zoning, which encouraged automobile based transport system. Over the years the zoning model gave rise to uncontrolled traffic and choking cities. The second Master Plan for Delhi 2001 tried course correction by introducing Mixed Landuse streets and commercial streets.
The need for efficient, environmentally friendly and energy conserving transport system introduced Metro and BRT in our cities. Taking advantage of MRTS, the concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) became a part of the Master Plan chapter on Transportation in Delhi Master Plan.
Urban Planning in Delhi transformed itself into a flexible and responsive planning framework. My book "Delhi: An Emerging Megacity Region " maps this change and transformation of planning process in Delhi.
IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge now accepting Statements of Interest for the 2017-18 grant program
by Anne McNeill
The Smarter Cities Challenge is a signature IBM Citizenship initiative that contributes IBM technology and the skills and expertise of teams of IBM experts to address key challenges facing cities around the world.
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IBM cognitive computing and big data capabilities provide Smarter Cities Challenge winners with deep, data-driven insights on their urban challenges, and enable them to generate and evaluate options that improve policy development and decision making.
Cities apply to the Smarter Cities Challenge by identifying a pressing strategic challenge that they propose to advance with IBM’s support. Winning cities welcome a team of five to six IBM experts, who work closely with city leaders for a three- week period on their proposed challenge. During the project, the IBM team meets with dozens of stakeholders in government, business, non-profits and other organizations to gather diverse perspectives about root causes and potential solutions to the challenge at hand. The team gathers and analyzes data and assesses best-practice approaches implemented by peer cities.
At the end of the engagement, the IBM team presents deliverables that may include strategic recommendations; proof of concept or prototype tools that leverage data to support decision- making; implementation road maps and workshops; and training to transfer skills and build staff capacity. These outputs draw on the technical experience and strategic insight of the IBM team, city staff and residents to incorporate the entire community’s insight.
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ISOCARP ExCo Elections
ISOCARP is seeking candidates for 2018-2021. The positions include:
- President-Elect
- Vice President for Members and National Delegations
- Vice President for Urban Planning Advisory Teams (UPATs)
- Vice President for Academic Development / ISOCARP Institute
- Vice President for Young Planning Professionals (YPPs)
- Vice President for Publications
- Vice President for Technical Assistance / Projects
These positions will be key to implementing this year’s and future Society programmes and projects. The 2017 Strategic Plan outlines how this effort is currently structured and can be downloaded here.
The Executive Committee Organisation Chart shows the relationships within the various Society officers and staff and can be viewed here.
For information on our current Executive Committee please see their bios here.
Please contact the Secretariat to express your interest in any of these positions and contact any EXCO member with your questions.
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Share your news with us!
This newsletter is your place to share information through and within the ISOCARP community. If you want to contribute to the newsletter send your information to mediacoordinator@isocarp.org. |
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