Regional territorial policies and strategies for equity, sustainability and economic efficiency: OECD reflections

Dear All,

Please join us on Tuesday, 20 July from 15.30-18.00 for an extended seminar:

Regional territorial policies and strategies for equity, sustainability and economic efficiency: OECD reflections

Wits School of Architecture and Planning, John Moffat Building,  East Campus, Lecture Theatre A2 (on ground floor, access from lobby)

Kindly RSVP to Zakiyyah.ayob@wits.ac.za

Presentations by:

• Lamia Kamal-Chaoui
• Michael Donovan
• Mary Crass  
• Keith Thorpe
• Domingos Pires de Oliveira Dias Neto
• Edgar Pieterse

(see below for further detail on presentation topics)

The Gauteng Provincial Government, in partnership with the Gauteng City-Region Observatory, has commissioned a Territorial Review of the Gauteng City-Region, undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Gauteng is about to host the second OECD Mission of the Review process. The Mission includes OECD Secretariat staff, peer reviewers from other countries, and international experts. The Gauteng Territorial Review will be completed by the end of 2010.  

An OECD Territorial Review is an 18 month research exercise that benchmarks a city or region against peers internationally, and examines development strengths and weaknesses in the target area.  Over the last few years the OECD’s Urban Development Unit has conducted more than 20 Territorial Reviews in cities and regions as diverse as Melbourne (2003), Mexico City (2004), Seoul (2005), the Randstad in Holland (2007), Cape Town (2008), and Guangdong in China (2010).  The Urban Unit has also carried out thematic reviews on issues such as local climate change action planning, distressed urban areas, metropolitan governance, and urban indicators.

The OECD is currently working on a new development model of ‘stronger, fairer and cleaner’.  There is now a growing emphasis within the OECD on the relationship between macro-economic policies, forged at the national level, and policies that seek to bring about structural changes in the functioning of economies and societies in particular areas.  This in turn has led to a focus on regional or territorial policies, concerned with integration between growth/efficiency, inclusivity and sustainability priorities.  The OECD’s whole Territorial Review approach is underpinned by the idea that we need to properly understand the interactions between multifaceted policies within a regional frame. 

Please join us on Tuesday, 20 July from 15.30-18.00 pm for a series of short presentations by OECD Secretariat members, and Gauteng Territorial Review peer reviewers and experts, on these themes.  The following perspectives will be offered followed by open discussion:

I.  Transnational perspectives

Lamia Kamal-Chaoui: Head, Urban Development Unit, OECD (Why should cities be at the core of a new development model?)

Michael Donovan: Urban specialist, OECD (Gauteng in a comparative perspective) 

Mary Crass: Senior policy analyst, International Transport Forum, OECD (Global trends in transportation. 

II. European perspectives

Keith Thorpe: Head, Urban Policy Unit: Department for Communities and Local Government, United Kingdom (City-regions in the UK)

III. Latin American perspectives

Domingos Pires de Oliveira Dias Neto: Director of Urban Development Operations, SP-Urbanismo, Municipal Secretary of Urban Development (Financing urban revitalization in São Paulo)

IV. African perspectives

Edgar Pieterse: Director and NRF Chair, African Centre for Cities (African cities)

Hope to see you there.