Understanding, Planning and Transforming Cities for a Better Urban Future - Integrated spatial planning for area-based investments towards a greater impact

Many cities lack capacities to develop a clear vision of where and how they should grow, and to plan accordingly. Often, investment priorities are not based on reliable data as well as strategic analysis of a city’s performance, needs and risks. Rather, they are set in an uncoordinated, piecemeal and ad-hoc fashion, based on short-term considerations. This leads to inefficient spatial structures and urban sprawl, leaving a large share of the population and businesses with limited access to affordable and reliable services and socio-economic opportunities. To address these shortcomings, urban planning is a suitable approach to better understand cities, identify opportunities and to put in place actions that transform urban forms and systems for the better. Integrated spatial analytics and planning provide cities with a vision of what the urban form could look like and how it could function well. Integrated spatial plans identify challenges through participatory, evidence-based, and data-driven processes in consultation with the stakeholders and civic society while ensuring feasibility on the ground. Besides defining the structure and functionality of urban systems, the integrated strategic plan is an effective tool to translate the principles for sustainable development for adaptation to the local context. It integrates different sectoral plans, indicates priority areas for development and transformation to achieve the vision, provides inclusive solutions to urban problems within the local context, and consolidates and aligns development approaches at regional, city, and neighbourhood levels. The event is proposed to be a joint organisation of several institutions and agencies working on integrated and strategic spatial planning. The approaches/ methodologies and lessons learned from different contexts and in various cities will be presented and discussed to explore the positive outcomes of such processes. The case studies will Integration of spatial analytics on hazards and risk exposure into spatial planning in environmentally vulnerable mountain settlements in Central Asia (Tajikistan), Integration of analytics on urban services accessibility gaps into municipal investment planning in cities facing strong migration in/outfluxes of displaced populations in the Middle East (Jordan), Integration of urban sustainability indicators into spatial planning in densely populated, polluted, complex cities in South Asia (India), as well as inter-scalar considerations in master planning to balance socio-economic development and environmental protection in a metropolitan area (Guinea)