Dear members of ISOCARP  

 

ISOCARP is a unique member-led association of planners with a successful track record and many new opportunities ahead.  We are a global organisation that has to champion urban planning to make a resilient, equitable, sustainable cities, regions and communities.  We are at a critical time in tackling global challenges and reforming our ISOCARP to face them.   

 

I am passionate about the transformative power of city and regional planning.  I truly care for the ISOCARP community.  I am committed to put in the work, bring the right experience and competencies, and work with you to make it happen.  Together we can make a difference.  As President I have four ambitions: 

 

Nurturing a healthy foundation through better governance, inclusion and transparency 

Change is needed for an improved value-driven ISOCARP and to address our current crisis. To inspire trust and confidence among our members, transparency and accountability must be at the core of our Society’s operations. As President I commit to enhancing a culture of integrity, inclusiveness, respect and constructive dialogue. Getting the most from the wonderful diversity of our members. I will also re-activate the Executive Committee for effective management, and integrate requirements of the new Dutch Act (WBTR) to enhance governance and conflict of interest.   

 

I plan to diversify ISOCARP’s revenue which is overly dependent on our flagship World Planning Congress, seizing new opportunities such as certification.  I plan to strengthen our financial situation while maintaining our advantageous non-profit ‘ANBI ’status, indicating we work for the common good, a value we can strengthen and which I also cherish personally.  From a solid foundation of healthy governance, we will expand our membership and consider regionalisation.  

 

Empowering members at the heart of ISOCARP  

I greatly value the inputs and wisdom of our members; feedback from several members has shaped this statement.  Many ISOCARP members long for a highly interactive communication platform. Under my Presidency I will enable connection, interaction, discussion and collaboration among members across the world, particularly through an interactive platform or ‘ISOCARP App’. This is major upgrading of how our members interact and collaborate, enabling more member involvement across all ISOCARP initiatives.  

 

In response to the worldwide shortage of planners there is a substantive need for continued learning. I strongly support ISOCARP to offer members opportunities to develop capacities and professional growth through training and certification, particularly in the global south. I also intend to leverage the significant expertise and experience of our members to develop quality technical content for professional development, such as for face-to-face exchange in an ISOCARP Summer school.   

 

We need to preserve long standing values, build further on what’s successful (YPP, publications, awards); while revamping what has worked before (e.g.UPATs). Activities with and for members.  

 

Build further on mentoring and peer review initiatives to increase quality of knowledge outputs for the upcoming Congress, and expand a first collaboration I’ve helped to establish with the Journal Cities & Health (Routeledge) for the Congress in Brussels.  

 

As President-Elect I intend to undertake a virtual world tour, visiting different regions, listening and interacting with our members.  Contributing to a shared vision and strategy for the term of my Presidency. And to grow the Society with its members.  

 

Championing women and diversity 

My ambition is ISOCARP having a presence across the globe, not just Europe, reflected in a diversity of Board members with more women leaders, congresses in the global south and regionalisation initiatives with focus on underrepresented and low income regions including Africa, Latin America and Asia. Having ISOCARP in the World and the World in ISOCARP! 

 

We need to not only increase the number of qualified women planners worldwide – we also need to see more of them in positions of power, where critical decisions about cities, regions and the environment are made.  I will strengthen the focus on Women in Planning: advancing the WiP leadership group, operationalising the WiP Award which I initiated, an ISOCARP first!  

 

Leverage ISOCARP globally for ‘sustainability planning’   

There is increasing awareness of planning as central to address global challenges. ISOCARP is an informed and positive force for change on the global stage.  The global challenges we face, particularly climate, biodiversity and health, demand more investment in understanding how the role of planning is transformative through cross-disciplinary dialogue and innovation. While member-initiated CoP Climate Change can advance the learning among academic, policy making and practitioners, we need to learn from new cross-disciplinary strategic collaborations such as the upcoming Toronto Congress. We need to leverage our unique ISOCARP ECOSOC/UNFCC-accreditation and collaborate for collective impact.  

 

My ambition is to strengthen ISOCARP as ‘go-to-place’ for critical independent reflection and as a Society that keeps on pushing the boundaries and exploring the intersections in areas such as climate action, underground urbanism and A.I. 

 

My candidacy  

 I served since 2019 in different key roles for the Society:  active Board and Executive Committee member (2020-23); Congress Director of WPC58 Brussels (2022) and multi-disciplinary UEF5+WPC59 Toronto (2023); I co-led the CoP Urban Health; co-chaired at WPC56; created Women in Planning and initiated its Award; mentored in MSRL2.0; member of Task Force COP26; contributed to GSNUPP2.  

 

Engineer Architect, Urban and Regional Planner, I bring over 25 years of experience: integrated urban planning in Belgium, France and Switzerland; sustainable development and disaster risk reduction with UN-Habitat in Vietnam; management of post-conflict programmes and establishment of a new strategic spatial planning system in Kosovo; development of a regional capacity building Instrument with governments in SE-Europe; regeneration of historical centres in the West Bank; design of a Foundation’s strategy for cities supporting ECD; managed multi-cultural teams, budgets and provided thought leadership as Head of UN-Habitat Office; advice to local governments in Brazil and Colombia. Expert advice to ISUH, WHO.  I served on several boards and committees internationally, including as treasurer, external controller, thought leader.  

 

I sincerely appreciate your consideration as President.