Gulf News, 19 April 2000 

by Shadiah Abdullah

"Sultan Opens Urban Planning Talks

International experts attend two day event in Sharjah Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi on Tuesday inaugurated the third Sharjah Urban Planning Symposium at the University of Sharjah. The conference is held under the themes Vision Planning in the Age of Globalisation and the Role of Cities in the Global and Regional Economy. 
Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qassimi was also present at the inauguration. The two day Symposium is organised by the Town Panning and Survey Directorate (TPSD) and South Bank University. Experts and academics in the field of architecture and urban development from all over the world have been invited to present their papers at the Symposium. Three panels discussed diverse issues concerning urban development on the first day. The first one was about emerging approaches to planning and urbanisation in Sharjah and was chaired by Isam Zabalawy, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah. Achievement of aesthetic and functional values in the planning of the University city of Sharjah and urban development and the importance of traffic impact study by the Sharjah Traffic Department were some of the other papers discussed on the panel. Vision planning the origin and concept was the topic of the second panel, while the third panel concentrated on NSDP and real estate markets. The second and last day will see the holding of three panel in which vision planning for urban development will be the first one. The second one will look into NSDP and vision planning for the complete development of the tourism and leisure industry. The hihglight to it will be a paper by Dr Djamel Boussa on vision building and planning in the UAE, questioning if there is room for heritage. The third panel will bring forward the sustsainabiliy, planning and design of NSDP and the highlight will be a paper by Baris Der Petrossian from UNCHS Habitat which will talk about planning sustainable human settlement in an urbanising world."

A compilation of press releases from SUPS3 will be added to this site shortly.

This page will also be updated to include press releases about The Fourth Sharjah Planning Symposium (SUPS4).