NAHRO-ATTENDS THE INTERNATIONAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION CONGRESS

摘要

The streets were still wet from the previous night's rain when I arrived at the Kursaal Center early on Sunday, October 24. The building's barren glass and metal frame was a stark contrast to the ornate facades of 19th century structures nearby. I was there for the 34th annual International Urban Development Association (INTA) Congress in San Sebastian, Spain: an intensive, four-day marathon of tours, plenary sessions and workshops. Thanks to an agreement executed three years earlier between NAHRO and INTA to promote exchanges, I attended the conference as NAHRO's representative. After checking in, I was ushered downstairs to a wood-paneled conference room where the pre-conference meeting of the World Urban Development Council was already underway (the World Urban Development Council, a permanent INTA think tank, meets annually to discuss major trends and issues in urban policy). I picked up headphones at the door and listened as interpreters provided real-time translation in French, English and Spanish. The issues raised by speakers were familiar-sustainable development, inclusion, exclusion, population growth, migration, the tension between urban and rural development and the impact of technology. Pre-conference meetings and site visits with dozens of participants moved quickly into the full conference the following day. Hundreds of participants filled the main hall at the opening session and dozens of workshops that would follow.