INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE 4 : 2016

Abstract

It is my esteem pleasure to present this Special Issue of Planning Malaysia based on selected papers presented in the 13th International Congress of Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA 2015) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. UTM, the country’s pioneer institution in the urban and regional planning discipline is indeed honoured to have hosted this prestigious event. The theme for APSA2015 was ‘Towards an Asian Urban Agenda: Planning Asian DiverseCity, IntenseCity, ComplexCity and AuthenticCity’, and oral presentation papers was featured across six tracks encompassing Urban Planning and Design Challenges; Urban Institutions and Governance; Bridging Urban Research and Urban Policy; Soul-Searching Planning Education; Green Growth and, Urban Equity and Authenticity. The theme was developed with the idea of going beyond rhetoric and planning in the Asian urban context. It is timely for the Asian urban planners to rediscover the Asian wisdom and promote an Asian renaissance in urban and regional planning.

It is gratifying to acknowledge that APSA2015 had more than 200 participants from about 20 countries in Asia and other parts of the world. Thirty distinguished research articles written by national and international scholars on variety of issues of urban context have been included in this MIP special edition. The research papers selected are experimental, computational and theoretical aspects covering the broad spectrum of planning. This special edition also includes several seminal vision articles which represent the general theme of the congress. As Chairman of APSA 2015, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Planning Malaysia, MIP for publishing this Special Issue. My profound thankfulness is also addressed to the Organising Committee and the reviewers for their effort and commitment in ensuring that this journal are published. Finally, using the Planning Malaysia Special Edition as an occasion, I would like to thank to those who has created the opportunity for this publication particularly the UIAM as the Planning Malaysia secretariat.