Rajni Abbi

Professor Rajni Abbi has been a professor of law for 24 years. She did her graduation in English Literature from Delhi University in 1983. Then, she went on to pursue her Bachelors as well as Masters in Law from the Prestigious Faculty of Law in Delhi University where she graduated summa cum laude. She completed her PhD  from Delhi University. Her interests have been been in the area of Commercial as well as Consumer Laws. She has authored a range of bestselling books in the field of law such as “General Laws and Procedures” and “Business Laws”. She is also a visiting Professor of Law at Beijing Institute of Technology as well as the Nanjing Institute, both in China.

She entered politics as an elected member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, representing an area with a population of more than 150 thousand people. She was the Vice Chairman of the high powered standing committee, the highest decision making body of the Corporation, which is single handedly responsible for a majority of the decision around urban planning in Delhi. During this time, several new initiatives such as a new waste disposal system for the entire city was conceptualized. During 2011-12 she was elected as the Mayor of Delhi by the 272 elected members of the corporation, who had, in turn been elected by the 20 million odd people of Delhi. During this time, a comprehensive Master Plan 2021 which envisioned a program for ensuring planned urban development in Delhi was prepared. A new and innovative advertising policy which focused on increasing the cash flow of the corporation was also introduced among other things. She also attended, participated and presented at various conferences on urban planning, sustainable development and the environment in Turkey, China, South Korea and South Africa. Currently, she is also the Vice President of the Delhi Unit of the BJP, the largest political party in India.

Topic of her Speech: Need to Plan and Reinvent Cities in Developing Countries

Yusuf Patel

Yusuf Patel is a professional planner and preferred future maker with a passion for making great places.

He is founder and managing director of SpatialiZe (Pty) Ltd which is a multi-functional company that undertakes affordable housing and provides various built environment services to create inclusive, economically vibrant and sustainable places.

As immediate past President of the South African Planning Institute (SAPI) he continues to serve on the board and has done so since 2002. In November last year he was selected as a vice-president of the commonwealth association of planners (Southern Africa). He has been nominated to serve on the National Planning Commission.

Prior to forming SpatialiZe, he was managing director of the developments division of the JSE-listed construction company, Basil Read, where he worked mainly on large-scale mixed-income integrated housing projects. Before that, Yusuf was a deputy director-general in national government where he worked over a 10 year period on various key transformative projects including establishing the new local government planning system, and overseeing local economic development and municipal infrastructure policy and delivery.

Yusuf holds a Masters in Financial Economics from the University of London and a Masters in Development Planning from the University of Witwatersrand.

Topic of his Speech: Planning between Power

Maarten Hajer

Maarten Hajer is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Amsterdam since 1998. The Dutch Cabinet appointed him as Director of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL – Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving) in 2008. He continues his professorship part time.

He is the author of over ten books and many articles and contributions to books. Best known are ‘The Politics of Environmental Discourse’ (Oxford, 1995); ‘Living with Nature’ (Oxford 1999; eds. with Frank Fischer); ‘In Search of New Public Domain’ (Rotterdam, 2001, with Arnold Reijndorp); ‘Deliberative Policy Analysis – Understanding Governance in the Network Society’ (Cambridge, 2003, editor together with Hendrik Wagenaar).

Maarten holds MA degrees in Urban and Regional Planning (UvA, 1987), Political Science (UvA, 1988); as well as a D.Phil. in Politics (University of Oxford, 1993). During the 1990s he worked as researcher at the Leyden Institute for Law and Public Policy (1991- 1993); as ‘wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter’ with Ulrich Beck at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich (1993-1996); and as senior researcher at the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), The Hague (1996-1998) after which he was appointed Chair at the UvA. He fulfilled many societal roles such as member of the VROM-raad, the advisory board to the former Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, The Hague, jury member for the International Spinoza Price in philosophy, the EO Weijersprijsvraag in landscape architecture and EUROPAN, the European price for architects under 35. Currently he is amongst others board member of the Rotterdam Maaskant Prize for Architecture.

Topic of his Speech: The Next Economy: Rethinking the Role of Planning and Design