Tracing the history of North American urban planning from the 1950s to date, John Friedman, University of British Columbia, suggested that technocratic planning is now obsolete

Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, noted that current planning practices bias decisions toward vehicles and advocated for correcting market distortions to support “smart” growth

Henk De Zeeuc, Resource Center on Agriculture and Forestry, delivered a message on behalf of Sybilla Dekker, Minster of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of the Netherlands, cautioning against viewing rural and urban as separate entities, and urging a participatory approach to encourage adoption of political plans

Raquel Rolnik, Brazil's National Secretariat of Urban Programmes, presented Brazil’s experience in implementing the “right to the city” concept through legal and governance reforms, and land regularization programmes

Noting increased exclusion and alienation in cities, Paul Taylor, UN-HABITAT, defined the “right to the city” as the right for all city dwellers to fully enjoy urban life with all its services and advantages. He also pointed out that this right has taken both legally-binding and voluntary forms

Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal, presented the Montreal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities, which had entered into force in January 2006

On increasing local cooperation in post-conflict cities, Daneil E. Esser, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), outlined the need to link urban and rural areas and confront institutional multiplicity through interaction not competition

Jo Beall, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), said cities in which conflict was prevalent had shared constraints, including: weak local administration; budget constraints; over-determination of capitals; high unemployment; and factional politics

Jason Sumich, Crisis States Research Centre, outlined the case of Maputo, Mozambique and noted that the post-conflict transition had been achieved at a high social cost

L-R: Noli de Castro, Vice President of the Philippines, Noer Soetrisno, Indonesia's Ministry of Housing and moderator

Alison Barret, Local Partnership for Urban Policy Alleviation Project, presented a case study in Bangladesh

In a press conference, David Suzuki (right), David Suzuki Foundation, said the project proposed by the BC government to construct another bridge to Vancouver would not solve the present automobile congestion problem in the long term and would contribute further to atmospheric pollution and climate change

Aaron Nelson-Moody local drum maker at work