- Published: 21.02.2020.
Representatives of the Ministry at the World Urban Forum
Abu Dhabi hosted the Tenth World Urban Forum (WUF10) organized by UN-HABITAT from 8 to 13 February 2020, and this was also the first time that the World Urban Forum was hosted by a Middle East country. The World Urban Forum is a platform for international gathering and exchange of experiences and views on sustainable urbanisation and possible consequences for urban development in general.
The theme of this year's World Urban Forum was “Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation”, and the Forum gathered about 13,000 participants - urban planning experts from around the world, 450 lecturers and representatives of 168 countries. The forum included over 500 accompanying events. Participants included representatives at the official level: heads of state, ministers responsible for spatial planning and urban development, state secretaries; representatives of NGOs, experts on urban planning and digital spatial development (urban planners, development programmers, etc.). The forum was organised by UN HABITAT, the United Nations Agency dealing with housing and urban development planning and serves as a platform for international gathering and exchange of experiences and views on sustainable urbanisation and possible consequences for urban development in general.
Representatives of the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning attended the forum: Minister Predrag Štromar, State Secretary Dunja Magaš, State Secretary Danijel Meštrić, Head of Sector Ines Androić Brajčić and Adviser to the Minister Alen Grabar.
WUF10 addressed the subject of urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change, and challenges faced by national and regional policy makers. The UN General Assembly recognises the WUF as the main field of dialogue between policy-makers, NGOs, experts, planners and other professionals involved in sustainable urban development in everyday practice.
Since the key themes of the 10th WUF was “Innovation and Culture”, we are proud that the Republic of Croatia, through the representatives of the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, had an opportunity to show and present the Physical Planning Information System (ISPU) of the Republic of Croatia with its modules, as an innovative spatial planning tool. It is a system that has been continuously developed and upgraded by the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning since 2013, and is currently in the functional phase of as many as 12 system modules: GEO portal, ePlans, eCatalogue, ePlans– editor, ePermit, ISPU locator, eConference, eArchives, Register of brownfield areas, eProperties, eSatellite, ePIC and at the same time new modules are under development: eInvestments, eEnergy certificate.
At one of the accompanying events, the ISPU system was presented by Alen Grabar, Adviser to the Minister, and all members of the Croatian delegation participated in the panel by answering questions and in open discussions. State Secretary Danijel Meštrić, as the creator of the digital ePermit construction permitting system, was in charge of answering questions about the system while State Secretary Dunja Magaš was in charge of the ePlans module and answers to questions concerning physical planning. Besides the above panel, Minister Štromar also participated in the General Assembly, which gathered high-level officials. Head of Sector Ms. Ines Androić Brajčić participated in panels dealing with circular space management and cities’ green infrastructure, as these are one of the key topics the ministry will develop in the coming period.
Representatives of the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning attended the forum: Minister Predrag Štromar, State Secretary Dunja Magaš, State Secretary Danijel Meštrić, Head of Sector Ines Androić Brajčić and Adviser to the Minister Alen Grabar.
WUF10 addressed the subject of urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change, and challenges faced by national and regional policy makers. The UN General Assembly recognises the WUF as the main field of dialogue between policy-makers, NGOs, experts, planners and other professionals involved in sustainable urban development in everyday practice.
Since the key themes of the 10th WUF was “Innovation and Culture”, we are proud that the Republic of Croatia, through the representatives of the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, had an opportunity to show and present the Physical Planning Information System (ISPU) of the Republic of Croatia with its modules, as an innovative spatial planning tool. It is a system that has been continuously developed and upgraded by the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning since 2013, and is currently in the functional phase of as many as 12 system modules: GEO portal, ePlans, eCatalogue, ePlans– editor, ePermit, ISPU locator, eConference, eArchives, Register of brownfield areas, eProperties, eSatellite, ePIC and at the same time new modules are under development: eInvestments, eEnergy certificate.
At one of the accompanying events, the ISPU system was presented by Alen Grabar, Adviser to the Minister, and all members of the Croatian delegation participated in the panel by answering questions and in open discussions. State Secretary Danijel Meštrić, as the creator of the digital ePermit construction permitting system, was in charge of answering questions about the system while State Secretary Dunja Magaš was in charge of the ePlans module and answers to questions concerning physical planning. Besides the above panel, Minister Štromar also participated in the General Assembly, which gathered high-level officials. Head of Sector Ms. Ines Androić Brajčić participated in panels dealing with circular space management and cities’ green infrastructure, as these are one of the key topics the ministry will develop in the coming period.
Attending the Forum was a unique opportunity for all participants, including representatives of the Republic of Croatia for a series of informal meetings and discussions, and an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with experts from other countries. We are proud that the Republic of Croatia, through the representatives of the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, participated in this event which, at the global level, discusses and expounds the theme of planning the development of cities and their sustainable development. On that occasion, we had the opportunity to present our experiences and the view of the development of the system through computerization and digitization of the spatial planning system, a valuable tool developed by the Republic of Croatia.
The World Urban Forum is held every two years, starting in 2002, and its aim is to raise awareness of sustainable urbanisation among stakeholders and constituent groups, including the general public, to improve collective knowledge of sustainable urban development through open and inclusive debate, exchange of best practices and policies and exchange of lessons, promotion of cooperation between different stakeholders and groups involved in enhancing and implementing sustainable urbanisation.
The next edition of the World Urban Forum in 2022 will be held in Poland (Katowice).
More information is available at: https://wuf.unhabitat.org/