An annual event, World Town Planning Day is celebrated in November to highlight the important role of urban and spatial planning, how it contributes to better life quality and forms the basis for economic development in cities. The aim of the event is to raise awareness among the public of  this important role and create space for knowledge exchange about the new paradigm in urban development and planning among civil society, academic institutes, researchers and government and non-government bodies. The Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning (DPT), Ministry of Interior, hosted the World Town Planning event on 6^th November 2020 at the Swissotel Bangkok Ratchada.  Public figures presented and shared their innovative ideas and experiences regarding town planning.

“TED TALK”  was used as a platform to deliver key messages to the audience. Among the well-known speakers invited to share their experiences were Danucha Pichayanan secretary of NESDC who gave a presentation on comprehensive urban development with economic corridors and Kotchakorn Voraakhom CEO and founder of LANDPROCESS, who spoke about green infrastructure design to respond to disasters. The talks and discussions provided a new model for and addressed the critical aspects of city infrastructure policy and planning for an ageing society as well as adaptive urban planning for urban planners, students, lecturers, researchers and international organisations.

Apart from the TED talk in the conference room, an exhibition on Town Planning was displayed at this event to promote discussion and encourage the target audience to networks with others.  Several exhibitors showcased their work related to city planning, such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which presented a  sustainable future city and UN-Habitat, which introduced a new urban agenda guidebook.

To increase awareness and inspire Thai urban planners to understand and recognise the importance of urban planning in contributing to climate action, both mitigation and adaptation, and to present resilience factors to urban planners, in particular on how climate change considerations can be integrated into city planning practices, GIZ Thailand together with Risk-based National Adaptation Plan (RISK-NAP), Thai German Climate Programme – Policy (TGCP-Policy), Thai German Climate Programme – Water (TGCP-water) and Sustainable Design of Urban Mobility in Middle-Sized Metropolitan Regions (SMMR) organised an exhibition that clearly linked climate change risks and impacts to specific project contexts as an alternative to normal urban planning solutions.

Participants from both DPT and academia were interested in how to link climate change to local-level spatial planning and localised adaptation options and in the materials produced such as guidelines to local climate change planning and climate change adaptation in the Andaman provinces and Trang province. Both DPT personnel and academics will be able to utilise the information given and transition it into meaningful changes and lectures.