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 24-27, October 2017.

This will be an outstanding opportunity for leading professionals from the private, public and academic sectors from all over the world to discuss some of the most recent and pressing planning and decision-making issues. This year’s topic —Smart Communities—is relevant for rural towns and major international centers. Together, we will explore how technology is changing our communities, how we can harness the benefits but also address the challenges of rapid change. This partnership between ISOCARP and OAPA occurs at a pivotal time as technology, health, transportation and politics are rapidly shifting how we think even at the local and international level.

Technology changes everything. From new innovations in communications and driverless technologies to small communities connected to the world through fiber optic, technology shapes what we do, whether we live and work in a small town or megacity. But how does that affect our responses as community and regional planners to issues such as population growth and demographic shifts, housing, energy, transportation and food production? More importantly, what role do both small communities and large cities play in connecting the dots when it comes to growing rural and urban areas in a thoughtful and community driven vision?

Conference Tracks
The joint conference will be organized around six concurrent tracks and sub-themes:

  1. Technology, infrastructure and buildings
  2. Governance and inclusive communities
  3. Culture, community experience and the sharing economy
  4. Resilience, adaptation and disaster mitigation
  5. Technology and small communities
  6. Post-smart communities and the new frontiers

Conference proposals can address any topic relevant to the planning profession, additional consideration will be given to proposals that relate to the role of technology in changing communities, both urban and rural. We encourage you to think creatively about how technology changes community access, broadens economic development, but also challenges traditional methods of planning and public policy.

For this year’s congress you have three possibilities of abstract submission:

submit an abstract for a session proposal,
submit an abstract for a paper,
submit an abstract for a case study, project, practical experience, or research.
For more information, please visit https://isocarp.org/53rd-annual-congress/abstract-submission/

If you want to be a sponsor and/or exhibitor for this event, please click here.

For OAPA click http://www.oregonapa.org/events/2017-oapaisocarp-joint-planning-conference/

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