How cities are changing and the implications of those changes for urban planning

There is a need to "re-invent" urban planning. Rapid urbanization and the urbanization of poverty challenge traditional urban planning. Competitiveness, climate change and the search for more sustainable settlements are other drivers. The 2006 UN-Habitat World Urban Forum "placed a strong emphasis on planning as a tool for urban development and environmental management, and as a means of preventing future slum growth." A key theme in this approach is pro-active consensus-building in conditions of conflict over development. New Urban Planning requires new skills. The paper explores institutional opportunities and barriers to reinventing planning in an international context.