Bhubaneswar: The 71st National Town and Country Planners Conference will be held in the Odisha capital from February 24 to 26.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the 3-day conference online on Friday. It’s being held in Odisha after 24 years.
Over 400 delegates. comprising of town planners of different states, governing council members of Institute of Town Planners India (ITPI), educationists, researchers and experts from across the country will take part in the conference.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Challenges for Urban and Regional Planning towards Sustainable Development’.
“Town and country planners are specifically trained to take the balanced view on urban development and environment protection towards sustainable development,” ITPI president Prof. (Dr) DS Meshram said at a press conference.
He has also mentioned that migration due to push factor of large towns and metropolitan regions attracts people, which is why development of small and medium towns will reduce the immigration and help develop Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns.
All these issues will be discussed and deliberated in detail over the next three days.
A local sub-theme ‘Experiences of Smart Cities Mission in Odisha’ will also be deliberated during the conference.
Plenary sessions on other sub-themes like ‘Small and Medium Towns: New Drivers of Development’, ‘Reforms in Urban Governance’, ‘Innovative Approaches to Planning Education’ will be held.
An exhibition on ‘Challenges for Urban and Regional Planning to Achieve Sustainable Development’ is being organised during the conference, which will provide an opportunity to various stakeholders to showcase their efforts and success stories of smart cities.
Established in 1951, ITPI previously held the conference at Bhubaneswar in 1966-67, 1988-1989 and 1998-1999.
Dr LP Patnaik, vice-president ITPI and chairman, Odisha region, also spoke at the press briefing.
