JOHOR BAHRU, 9 May – The Faculty of Built Environment Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in collaboration with Malaysia Institute of Planners (MIP) has organized The International Conference on Urban and Regional Planning (ICURP) 2014 to discuss strategic and sustainable town planning.
ICURP 2014 was held at the Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering (FBME), UTM and was officiated by the Johor State Executive Councillor and Chairman of the Johor State Committee for Housing and Local Government, Yang Berhormat Datuk Hj. Abd. Latif Hj. Bandi.
150 Town and Regional planners from Nigeria, India, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia participated at the conference to deliberate on various issues, under five interrelated key areas comprising cities at risk, the urban-rural divide, inclusive metropolitan growth, potential of information technology in planning and adaptive and resilience planning.
As many as 78 technical and academic papers were presented by urban and regional planning researchers, experts and practitioners, including one by  the Director General of the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government of Malaysia, Dr. Dahlia Rosly.
The conference has proven to be a valuable platform for the identification and concretization of new and innovative planning ideas that contribute to strategic urban planning.
The organization of this international conference was timely and strategically positioned  as it is in line with UTM’s efforts in enhancing its international standing through quality academic discourse.
Also present at the opening ceremony was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Development, Prof. Dr. Azlan Abdul Rahman.