General Rapporteur of the congress is Dr. Hongyang Wang.
Dr. Hongyang Wang is a professor of urban planning and design at Nanjing University, China. He researches and teaches planning philosophy and methodology, comprehensive planning and Chinese urbanization. He has been chair for preparing more than 40 regional, strategic and master plans for regions/provinces and cities across China, many of which were awarded provincial, national and international planning prizes including 2012 ISOCARP Awards for Excellence. He was the Chinese chair for European FP7 project Europe-China Urban and Regional Bi-continental research Scheme (FP7-230824 ECURBS) and a member of UN-Habitat Ad-Hoc Expert Group for International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning. He is enthusiastic in synergizing often segregated parts of spaces and societies into holistic solutions towards smart communities.
Tracks and Team Members:
Track 1: Technology, infrastructure and buildings
Track 2: Governance and inclusive communities
Track 3: Culture, community experience and the sharing economy
Track 4: Resilience, adaptation and disaster mitigation
Track 5: Technology and small communities
Track 6: Post-smart communities and the new frontiers
Zaheer Allam, Mauritius
Zaheer Allam is a thinker in Architecture & Urbanism and was the co-founder of an NGO that advocates for renewable energy in Mauritius. Former UN Steering committee member, and UN speaker on sustainable energy (2014), Zaheer featured as a speaker for 350.org, where he delivered a keynote speech during the historic People’s Climate March in 2014, regrouping 600,000 people worldwide. TEDx speaker on sustainable building and international correspondent for STUDIO magazine, Zaheer shares ideas for a sustainable world.
In early 2015, he was appointed as the African representative of the International Society of Biourbanism, and Chapter Chair of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, a society patroned by HRH Prince Charles.
For his contributions to society he was awarded numerous awards namely the; Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (JCI -2014), 40 Under 40 (ULI -2016), Global Impact Award (Curtin University -2016), and for his contributions to the fields of Architecture and Urbanism, he was elevated to the rank of Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean, the highest distinct order of merit in Mauritius.
In early 2017, Zaheer was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a 260 year old society patroned by HM Queen Elizabeth II, and featured as a ‘New Leader for Tomorrow’ by the Crans Montana Forum, a programme under the patronage of HM the King of Morocco.
Kaitlin Berger, USA
Kaitlin works as a land use planner in Portland, Oregon. She holds a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning Student from Portland State University, where she specialized in Economic Development, and focused her research on regional housing trends and affordable housing development. Kaitlin is passionate about a wide variety of planning topics including: equitable and sustainable economic development, public policy, poverty alleviation, affordable housing, community capacity building, multi-stakeholder collaborative decision making processes, sustainable agriculture, and brownfield remediation and redevelopment.
Serah Breakstone, USA
Serah Breakstone is a planning consultant in Portland, Oregon where she provides a range of land use planning services to clients in both the public and private sectors. She has a comprehensive understanding of Oregon land use regulations and guides her clients through complex land use processes and represents their interests during public proceedings. Serah also helps Oregon cities and counties implement their long-range land use visions through comprehensive planning, concept planning and zoning codes. Currently, Serah is a Senior Planner with DOWL, a multi-disciplinary firm in Portland with a focus on planning, land development and environmental services.
Megan Channell, USA
Megan Channell, AICP is a Principal Planner with the Oregon Department of Transportation, where she manages complex projects of statewide significance through planning, federal environmental review, and preliminary design for project-ready hand-over and implementation. Megan has 10-years of transportation and environmental planning experience in both the public and private sector, with a specialty in multimodal transportation corridors. She has proven success in applying corridor-wide visions across multiple jurisdictions and managing multi-agency coordination efforts. She also has technical and project management experience in applying strategic planning techniques for a wide variety of CEQA and NEPA documents for transportation and transit-oriented development projects.
Xiaohui Chen, China
Xiaohui Chen is the head of the urbanisation research center of Jiangsu province, China and Secretary-General for the Urban Planning Society of Jiangsu Province as well. She has urban and regional planning experiences for 23 years, and got the National Youth Planning Science and Technology Award of China in 2013. She is in charge of major urban and regional planning projects and provided technical assistance to local and provincial governments. She has got nine national excellent planning awards. Xiaohui has published three books by China Architecture and Building Press: “The Rural Restructuring in the process of Urban and Rural Integrated Development”, “Urban-rural planning reform and innovation in aging times”, and “Metropolitan Area Planning”, and published 20 academic papers as well.
From 2012 to 2013 she was a member of the Scientific Committee ISOCARP and has international experience by attending SPURS program at MIT, USA for one year. She organized two international workshops between Jiangsu Provincial Construction Ministry, China and Cardiff University, U.K.
Drew DeVitis, USA
Drew DeVitis is an urban planning professional based in Portland, Oregon. Drew recently oversaw development of the City’s Transportation Recovery Plan and helped initiate a resilient infrastructure planning effort while at the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management. He was also a co-author of a Manual on Pedestrian and Bicycle Connections to Transit released this year by the Federal Transit Administration. Drew received a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. He hopes his work can help foster more equitable, resilient, connected communities in the era of climate change.
Amanda Ferguson, USA
Amanda Ferguson is the City Planner for the City of Cottage Grove, Oregon. As the principal planner for a small town, Amanda’s position covers all aspects of local land use management in Oregon. She specializes in historic preservation, code administration, flood plain management, and emergency management. She is a Certified Flood Plain Manager and an AICP certified planner, and has trained extensively with FEMA at the Emergency Management Institute. Amanda served on the Board of Directors for the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association for two terms, and co-chaired three state and bi-state APA conferences. Amanda has a Master of Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia, and undergraduate majors in history and theatrical production. She is also the Artistic Director for the Cottage Theatre, a non-profit community theatre in Cottage Grove.
Hidehiko Kanegae, Japan
Dr. Hidehiko Kanegae, Professor, is a planner, also is a faculty member & ex-dean of the Graduate School of Policy Science as well as an research leader of the Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage (R-DMUCH) at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. His research focuses on a number of planning scientific topics including; public policy making & planning for the inheritance of historical cities, disaster mitigation measures, urban resilience and, the role of the local government in urban planning and community planning for disaster preparedness using by simulation & gaming. He holds a doctorate degree in Social Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology whose supervisor was Prof. Dr. Yoshinobu Kumata. He was trained as “Young Planner (current: Young Planning Professionals: YPP)” in 1992 at the Cordoba congress and was a member of Local Organizing Committee of the Ogaki Congress 1996.
David Krogh, USA
David Krogh has over 35 years of both public and private planning experience in city, county, regional and in emergency management planning. He is one of the few planners in the State of Oregon who has working experience with all 19 of Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goals, having worked with urban, rural and coastal agencies. David has a BS degree in Earth Science from the University of Wisconsin, an MS degree in Environmental Science from Washington State University, and has completed FEMA’s Professional Development Series in Emergency Management (including training at the National Emergency Training Center). After retiring from government work in 2013 he consulted within the Portland Metro area until recently. He joined the American Planning Association (APA) in 1987 and received his certification as a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) in 1991. He is currently a life member of APA/AICP and has volunteered with the Oregon Chapter of APA (OAPA) for several years. Presently, he serves on the OAPA Professional Development Committee, is a regular conference volunteer, and a planning mentor. An avid writer, he has had many guest commentaries published in both the Portland Tribune and Oregonian newspapers and specializes in planning problem solving and legal issues.
Olusola Olufemi, Canada
Dr. Olusola Olufemi is an Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning. With her career spanning about 30 years, Olusola Olufemi has been actively involved in university teaching, research, consulting and administration in Geography and Planning departments, at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in Nigeria, South Africa and Canada. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and encyclopaedias; and involved in leadership roles in international professional bodies. She was a Visiting Professor at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria in 2013 and 2016. Olusola is a planning researcher, mentor and educator, and also an Associate with the Society for Good Health, Sustainable Development and Environmental Awareness, Ibadan, Nigeria. She presently works as an Independent Consultant in the area of Social Planning specifically Urban Management and Development, Homelessness, Gender and Food security.
Mairura Omwenga, Kenya
Mairura Omwenga is Chairman of Town and County Planners Association of Kenya (TCPAK). He is a member of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) and International Associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI/UK). He is a member of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya and registered by the Engineers Board of Kenya and also the National Environment Management Authority.
Mairura is a civil/structural engineer, town planner and EIA expert. He holds BSc (civil engineering) and MA (Urban and Regional Planning) from the University of Nairobi. He is currently pursuing PhD research. He is a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, College of Architecture and Engineering. He has working experience in both public and private sectors and also runs a consultant firm.
Jon Pheanis, USA
Jon Pheanis, AICP, is a planner and project manager with MIG, working with communities across the west and throughout Oregon. During his career, Jon has contributed on projects with a range of scales, from street and park plans, to neighborhood and comprehensive plans. Jon is especially passionate working with people and bringing their ideas to life, generating enthusiasm and trust throughout each of his projects. His experience includes successful public involvement campaigns and professional meeting facilitation across a wide array of projects and audiences. He has contributed on numerous professional articles and conferences related to great public spaces and public involvement. Jon has been a planner in Oregon for over a decade and has attended the Oregon Chapter of APA (OAPA) annual conference for nearly as long, including as speaker. Jon holds a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon.
Aaron Ray, USA
Aaron Ray, AICP, is a Senior Aviation Planner with the Port of Portland. He focuses on long range planning for the Port’s three aviation facilities, with an emphasis on land use compatibility and collaboration with partner jurisdictions. Prior to joining the Port, he was a Senior Planner for the City of Hillsboro, managing a multi-year project to rewrite the City’s Comprehensive Plan, its first overhaul in over 30 years. Aaron also serves as a Board Member and the Professional Development Officer for the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Community Development from Portland State University, and a Master of City and Regional Planning from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Grace Stainback, USA
Grace Stainback is a Land Use Planner in Mackenzie’s planning department. Grace received a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems at Portland State University this year. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida, is a former journalist and, prior to Portland, has lived and worked in the Miami area, Spain, Ecuador and Vietnam. She hopes to combine her curiosity about people, place and culture with her formal education to help create meaningful spaces.
Damian Syrnyk, USA
Damian Syrnyk currently serves as a senior planner with the City of Bend Growth Management Department. He has over 28 years of professional experience in both current and long range planning for two cities and one county in Oregon. Damian served as a key member of a team in developing a proposal for an urban growth boundary expansion for the City of Bend that included a significant update of the Bend Comprehensive Plan. The Bend Comprehensive plan and the UGB expansion were acknowledged by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development in November 2016. Damian has also prepared population and housing forecasts, and a water public facility plan for the City of Bend. As a senior planner he has also reviewed and testified on land use and planning bills before the Oregon Legislature, or coordinated with the City’s legislative liaison to provide testimony.
Damian has been a member of the American Planning Association (APA), including the Oregon Chapter of APA, since 1988. He earned his certification as a Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 1995. He served as an at-large member of the board of Oregon APA from 1999-2003 and from 2009-2012. He served as the Board Vice Present from 2012-2014, during which he also served as a Conference Committee Chair. He currently serves as the Chair of the Oregon APA Legislative and Policy Affairs Committee, a position he has held since 2014, and has served as a committee member since 2010.
Kirsten Tilleman, USA
Kirsten Tilleman is a planner with WSP USA in Portland, Oregon. Her work focuses on both environmental planning and transit system safety and security. Specifically, Kirsten executes socioeconomic and environmental justice impact assessments; risk-based transit system safety and security analyses and trainings; land use permitting; and compliance with various applicable federal and state regulations. Kirsten earned her certification as a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2017, and is board president-elect of the American Planning Association’s Oregon Chapter (OAPA). She holds degrees from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and the Oregon State College of Forestry.
Philippe Vaillant, France
Philippe Vaillant is an architect-town planner, a territorial engineer in the agglomeration community «Ardenne Metropole». He currently works for the “City Policy” department. He has presented case studies at numerous ISOCARP congresses. He is one of ISOCARP’s representatives at UNESCO.
He has drawn up numerous town planning documents and has been Director of the Technical and Urban Planning Department (DST) of several medium-sized towns. He is a national co-facilitator within the AITF, and the technical director of a “Practical Guide to the DST” used in more than 200 cities in France. He has conducted many exchanges of experience, through seminars and congresses at the local, regional, national and international level.
After leading on the ground the regional operation « After Mines » of the French and German Lorrain Coal Basin, he became Doctor of Geography-Planning, with distinction. He has since been an Associate Researcher at the University of Lorraine, EA 7304, and has conducted a Post-Doctorate in Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia, in partnership with the Indigenous Nyikina People and with the International Water Center (Brisbane). His international research focuses on the theme of “Mining, Environment and Society”.
He promotes and implements an organic, trans-disciplinary planning (A.N. Whitehead) toward convivial regions (B.Twittchet) taking into account the limited Earth resources. His attention is focused on an operational and relational way toward solidarity-based, convivial and inclusive communities, rooted in permanently changing territories, as a solution to an increasing pauperization.
Shivon Van Allen, USA
Shivon Van Allen is a GIS professional for a utility company in Portland, Oregon. She previously was a planning consultant in the Portland-area and has provided land use planning services for private and public sector clients. Shivon holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Studies and Film from Portland State University and a Master’s of Science in Geography for the University of Alabama. Shivon is interested in the roles GIS and technology play in influencing the evolution of urban and rural environments.