The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI) is hosting the Leaders in Urban Transport Planning (LUTP) 2016 Seoul in association with the World Bank and Seoul Metropolitan Government on October 9^th-15^th, 2016. The objective of the program is to help build capacity for holistic and comprehensive planning at leadership levels.

This workshop will take place in Seoul and cover important issues for urban transport leaders such as integrated transport planning, ICT in transportation, PPP, and other key challenges.

You will have opportunities to participate in presentations, group discussions, site visits to Korea’s cutting-edge transport related institutions, and networking luncheons/dinners. For more detailed schedule, please go to http://english.koti.re.kr/lutp2016/schedule.asp

There is a fee of US $3,500 for the program. This fee will cover the cost of the training including the cost of hotel and local transport. Participants will be expected to bear their own roundtrip airfare to Seoul and back.

Apply by completing this form and submit to KOTI LUTP Secretariat by email at LUTP@koti.re.kr

Does your city have a recent urban lighting project in the past two years? Lighting Urban Community International Association and Philips Lighting announced the 14^the edition of the city. people.light award. It’s a great opportunity to promote your city’s excellence in the field of urban lighting throughout the global community.

Created in 2003 by Philips and LUCI, the city.people.light award recognizes urban lighting projects that attempt to re​-humanize the urban environment through the medium of light. It rewards urban lighting projects that best show how to integrate today’s city  challenges of urban living and the notions of ‘city’, ‘people’ and ‘light’ in a coherent lighting strategy.

​ ​The top three projects will be announced at the city.people.light award ceremony during the LUCI Annual General Meeting 2016 in Seoul​, Korea, with a prize of €10​,000 (approximately $11,300) for the winning project.

​ ​The contest is open to urban lighting projects that have been completed less than two years prior to entry in the contest.

How can you participate in the contest? We invite you to fill the template online (HERE) with the following information:

1. A description of the urban lighting project
2. Objectives of the lighting designer, urban planner or (landscape) architect in this project
3. The people involved in the project and products used
4. What is the contribution of the urban lighting project for the city and its citizens
5. Budget spent on this lighting project and budget reserved for further development
6. Installation date
7. Daytime and nighttime pictures

Your project (it can be a single building or a lighting master plan transforming the entire city) has a chance to win if it fulfills the following criteria:

• The lighting project must be a permanent installation and accessible to all people, temporary light festivals or illuminations are excluded from the contest.
• The contest is open to urban lighting projects that were completed less than two years prior to entry in the contest.
• The project is intended to improve livability in the city by applying innovative design and / or technology.
• The installation is intended to provide both the city and its citizens with short and long term benefits.

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR URBAN LIGHTING PROJECT BEFORE 5 SEPTEMBER 2016.
In case of questions or queries, please send an email to city.people.light@philips.com.
You can find more information on the examples of last year’s winners HERE.

As part of the Asia Development Dialogue, a regional dialogue platform for governments, private sector, civil society, and academia, Oxfam, in collaboration with CityNet, WIEGO, and UCLG-ASPAC supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, organized a two-day workshop from May 10th in Bangkok. Approximately 47 people attended the workshop that focused on Inclusive Economies in Cities: Livelihood Opportunities, Local Economic Development Strategies and Social Protection for Poor Urban Informal Workers in Asia to foster and promote new ways and tools for inclusive growth and inclusive local economic development in South East Asia.

One of the discussion highlights was that there is a parallel growth of informal sectors alongside the formal economy in developing countries like in most ASEAN and South Asian countries. However, informal workers in some countries have not been integrated to the participatory planning process, thus haven’t exercised their rights to influence the policy making process. This triggered a debate whether informal economy needs to be formalized. That said there was another argument that formalization might not necessarily be the answer. Government’s main focus is to help the informal workers improve their productivity and opportunity for their voices to be heard by the government. Some of the success cases presented during the workshop included Makassar, Indonesia and Seberang Perai, Malaysia.

One other discussion highlights was the role of private sector, whether private sector has a role in providing opportunities for the informal workers. In the workshop, private sector representatives focused on the use of technology as a way to improve the productivity of informal workers such as the case of Echo Store and Grab Car.

Echo Store is a successful organic store in the Philippines that relies on products supplied by home-based micro and small enterprises run by women. Echo Store founder Pacita San Juan said the store also helps women improve the packaging and design of their products to make them more appealing. San Juan said that private sector depends on government’s efforts to engage with the informal sector. Private sector also needs to continue supporting government’s policies in improving the lives of informal sectors.

The workshop concluded with a general consensus that all inputs could be further discussed at the upcoming regional forums particularly UN Habitat Preparatory Committee Meeting III in Surabaya.