UH Manoa to hold World Town Planning Day on Nov. 8

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Karl Kim, (808) 956-7381
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Posted: Nov 4, 2005

HONOLULU — The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, in partnership with the American Planning Association, Hawai'i Chapter, are pleased to announce a schedule of events in celebration of World Town Planning Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the School of Architecture Auditorium on the Mānoa campus. The event is free and open to all those interested in the advancement of public and professional planning.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., there were will information tables and booths related to urban planning and disaster management at the UH Mānoa Campus Center. Practicing planners, students, faculty and researchers will talk about their work, their plans and their research related to community building, environmental management, and disaster recovery.

An awards presentation honoring planners and their plans will be held at 7 p.m. in the Architecture Auditorium. Descriptions and displays of award-wining plans, planners, and projects will be showcased at this time.

The event also features a couple of panel discussions held in the Architecture Auditorium that focus on the topic of "Planning for the Inevitable: Perspectives on Disaster Readiness." The first panel, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., will be moderated by Karl Kim, professor and chair of the urban planning department, and will feature UH experts Tom Schroeder (meteorology), Steve Meder (architecture), Jim Spencer (urban and regional planning), Neal Milner (political science), Jon Matsuoka (School of Social Work) and Cheryl Anderson (Social Science Research Institute), who will give their perspectives on "what would happen if the perfect storm were to hit Hawaiʻi."

The evening panel, moderated by Sue Sakai of Belt Collins, which focuses on "learning from other places," will follow the awards ceremony at 7 p.m. The panel discussion will begin with a presentation featuring well-known Hawaiʻi planner, Jim Bell, who will describe the rebuilding of Hilo following the 1960 tsunami which destroyed much of the town.

Mike Napier from the Pacific Disaster Center will show some images and discuss approaches to damage assessment in the wake of disasters in Southeast Asia and following Hurricane Katrina. George Atta of Group 70 International will provide a national perspective on disaster planning. Brynes Yamashita and Lt. Commander Len Shilling of the U.S. Navy will offer their insights into disaster recovery based on experiences in Guam. Cheryl Soon, former director of transportation services and well-known planner about town, will offer her perspectives in terms of transportation and other planning considerations related to disaster readiness.

To conclude the day‘s events, a reception will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the courtyard of the School of Architecture. All students, faculty, alumni, members of the American Planning Association and others interested in urban and regional planning, are invited to attend.

World Town Planning Day was first celebrated on Nov. 8, 1949. It was started by the late Professor Carlos Maria della Paolera of the University of Buenos Aires to advance public and professional interest in planning, both locally and overseas. It is now celebrated in some 30 different countries around the world.

World Town Planning Day at UH Mānoa is co-sponsored by the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the American Planning Association, Hawaiʻi Chapter.

For more information, call 956-7381.