Welcome words: ISOCARP President - Martin Dubbeling
 | "Cities and metropolises play a crucial role in implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They address both the hardware and software of cities. No other discipline has the overview and capacity to implement the SDGs as city and regional planners do. Therefore we have a profound responsibility to plan and change cities and metropolises to become more liveable, inclusive and sustainable." |
Welcome words: Chairman Local Organising Committee - Bernardus Djonoputro
 | "The planet world is urbanising at an unprecedented rate, and the ever higher rate of Asia's urbanisation is rapidly changing the region. Megacities are transforming into futuristic forms - economically, socially, spatially and geo-politically." |
Welcome words: ISOCARP Congress Director - Sławomir Ledwoń
 | "Last year our Congress was hosted in Bodø, Norway, where a record number of planners, over 500, gathered to discuss planning for climate change. It was a great event, with excellent contributions from authors and presenters, including keynote speakers - Jeremy Rifkin, Peter Newman and Herbert Girardet, and great hospitality of the hosts and proud citizens of Bodø." |
Welcome words: General Rapporteur - Martina Juvara
 | "With urbanisation continuing at pace and a globalizing economy, metropolitan areas are morphing into megacities: a different model of urban development, which is no longer the unexpected by-product of fast-growing countries - a beacon to be followed for some, and for others simply dehumanizing." |