ISOCARP facts for kids

The International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) is a worldwide group of expert city planners. These are people who help design and improve cities and regions.

ISOCARP started in 1965. Its first leader was Professor Sam van Embden. Today, ISOCARP has members from over 90 countries. Its main office is in The Hague, Netherlands. The group works closely with big organizations like the United Nations and UNESCO.

What ISOCARP Does

ISOCARP wants to make cities better places to live. They do this by helping city planners around the world share ideas. They also offer training and support for planners.

The group works to make more people understand what city planning is. They want everyone to know why good planning is important for our communities.

ISOCARP holds many events and activities. These include:

• A big meeting each year called the World Planning Congress.
• Publishing books and reports about city planning.
• Giving awards for the best planning projects.
• Running training programs and workshops for planners.

In 2016, ISOCARP created a special research group. It is called the "Centre for Urban Excellence." This group acts like a "think tank" for cities. Its goals are to:

• Help people work together across different countries.
• Keep planning work at a very high standard.
• Encourage planning that helps the environment.
• Share new ideas and the best ways to plan cities.

The World Congress

Since 1965, the most important event for ISOCARP is its yearly World Planning Congress. This big meeting happens in different cities around the world. Each year, they pick a new theme. These themes are about important global issues.

Nr.	Year	Location	Theme
1st	1965	Amsterdam	The Position of the Netherlands in a Uniting Europe
37th	2001	Utrecht	Planning in the Information Age
38th	2002	Athens	The Pulsar Effect: Urban Planning and the pulsar effect: Coping with peaks, troughs and repeats in the demand cycle
39th	2003	Cairo	Planning in a More Globalised and Competitive World
40th	2004	Geneva	Management of Urban Regions - Experiences and New Interventions Possibilities
41st	2005	Bilbao	Making Spaces for the Creative Economy
42nd	2006	Istanbul	Cities between Integration and Disintegration – Opportunities and Challenges
43rd	2007	Antwerp	Urban Trialogues. Co-productive ways to relate visioning and strategic urban projects
44th	2008	Dalian	Urban Growth without Sprawl – A way Towards Sustainable Urbanization
45th	2009	Porto	Low Carbon Cities
46th	2010	Nairobi	Sustainable City / Developing World
47th	2011	Wuhan	Liveable Cities: Urbanising World - Meeting the challenge
48th	2012	Perm	Fast Forward: Planning in a (hyper) dynamic urban context
49th	2013	Brisbane	Frontiers of Planning – Evolving and declining models of city planning practice
50th	2014	Gdynia	Urban Transformations – Cities and Water
51st	2015	Rotterdam	Cities Save the World: Let's Reinvent Planning
52nd	2016	Durban	Cities we Have vs Cities we Need
53rd	2017	Portland	Smart Communities
54th	2018	Bodø	Cool Planning: Changing Climate and Our Urban Future
55th	2019	Jakarta, Bogor	Beyond the Metropolis
56th	2020	Doha (online)	Post-Oil City: Planning for Urban Green Deals
57th	2021	Doha (hybrid)	Planning Unlocked: New times, Better places, Stronger Communities
58th	2022	Brussels	From Wealthy to Healthy Cities
59th	2023	Toronto	For Climate Action, Urban Finance

Other Important Activities

Besides the big yearly congress, ISOCARP does other important things.

Young Planning Professionals (YPP) Workshops

These workshops are for young planners under 35 years old. They help young experts learn how to solve planning problems. These events happen in different countries.

Urban Planning Advisory Teams (UPATs)

UPATs are special teams of ISOCARP experts. They help cities and regions with big planning projects. These teams offer advice and support to local groups. Past workshops and UPATs have taken place in places like Russia, China, Australia, Mexico, Kenya, Gaza, and the West Bank.

See also

In Spanish: Asociación Internacional de Urbanistas para niños