Welcome to the 52nd World Congress of the International Federation of Housing and Planning (IFHP). The conference is now in its third day, and I have much to catch you up on. Until this afternoon, I have been engrossed in parallel sessions of paper presentations and keynote lectures. This has not allowed time to send live reports from San Juan. Thus, let me begin, and over the course of today, tomorrow, and Thursday I will highlight the messages and calls for actions live from the Congress.

Congress Overview



To start this is the second IFHP World Congress I am attending, my first being last year’s Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. Both have touched upon topics that are of great interest to me; the futures of cities in Copenhagen and affordable housing in San Juan. The official theme of this year’s congress is “Housing Beyond its Walls: Planning for an affordable and sustainable habitat”. Given the recent events around the world, the timing of this discussion and sharing of ideas could not come at a more opportune time.



This year’s Congress has three subthemes (Economic Dimension, Spatial and Environmental Dimension, and Social Dimension), each being addressed by keynotes and parallel sessions. A few of the noted keynotes are Raquel Szalachman of ECLAC, Dr. Enrique Penalosa-Londono, Former Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, Claudio Acioly Jr. of UN-Habitat, and Arch. Martha Schteingart of the Center for Demographic and Urban Studies in Mexico City. For more information on these and other keynotes as well as a listing of the speakers in the parallel sessions, visit the websites below:

www.ifhp.org
www.ifhp2008sanjuan.pr

As part of the Economic Dimension session there is a panel discussion among 6 Housing Ministers; Roy Bernardi, Under Secretary U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development USA, Ms. Beatriz Corredor-Sierra, Minister of Housing, Spain, Dr. Engelbert Lukte Daldrup, State Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany, Arch. Maria de los Angeles Duarte, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ecuador, Lic. Maritza Lopez de Ortiz, Administradora General, Instituto Nacional de Auxilios y Viviendas INAVI, Dominican Republic, and Mr. Edgars Zalans, Minister of Housing, Republic of Latvia.



As mentioned above, the Congress is now in its third day, having started on Sunday, October 12. The first order of business on Sunday, for IFHP members was the IFHP Council meeting. Following this meeting and congress registration, the congress participants were bused to Old San Juan for a tour to learn more of the historical heritage of our host city. The group split into different groups, mainly determined by the language they preferred to hear while on the tour. We spent 3 hours walking up, down, and through Old San Juan and were bused back to the convention center at the conclusion of the tour for the opening reception, followed closely by an opening ceremony.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony began with Francesc Ventura I Teixidor, the IFHP President, addressing the Congress. I must admit, when Francesc began I was surprised to hear him speaking Spanish. The official languages of IFHP are English, French, and German. The Council Meeting earlier in the day had been held in English and with my experience last year in Copenhagen all talks would be held in English as well. This was not to be the case. Thankfully, I had picked up a headset on the way to my seat so I was able to listen to an English translation.



Francesc mentioned this communication barrier and the need to understand one another during his opening remarks. While he was referring to the Congress directly, there was also the larger message that as a global society we must continue to work together and cooperate accordingly so we can understand one another and help solve the problems we share as an interconnected world. He urged the Congress to think of the well being of people in all that we do and to realize that too many times our future visions of a better world often cause neglect for the everyday problems being felt by citizens of this world. We must work to ensure that future generations receive a better world than we currently have. This can be done by integrating:

• Housing and Mobility
• Housing and Financing
• Housing and Environment
• Housing and Culture
• Housing and Urban Planning
• Housing and Ethical Stance of Improving People’s Lives

Roy Bernardi took the stage next during the opening remarks and started off by stating that President Bush sent his greetings to the Congress. I was surprised when there were no under the breath remarks within the audience about this. I say this not out of any personal political feelings, rather from the experiences I had in Copenhagen when there were comments made by speakers and those in attendance when it was called for. Roy continued on stating that we are now in a defining moment of our society and called for more transparency, prudency, and responsibility in future housing markets, realizing that the human toll as a result of this is much more significant than the financial impact.

The final opening remarks a representative from the Governor’s Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico took the stage to welcome all to Puerto Rico and to this 52nd IFHP World Congress. He mentioned the need for a government who’s left hand knows what the right is doing and called for the cities we live in to be reflections of our cultures so visitors know as well as residents where they are.

Two keynote lectures concluded the opening ceremony. The first, titled, “Shifting Gazes: The Making of Urban Puerto Rico – 500 years of Puerto Rico Urbanism (1508-2008)” was given by Dr. Anibal Sepulveda-Rivera, Professor, Graduate School of Planning, University of Puerto Rico. In his lecture, Dr. Sepulveda noted that San Juan is one of the few Caribbean cities that has had a plan from the beginning. This was shown on an old document, with the inscription “Here is where the City should lie”. A shocking fact mentioned at the beginning of his talk is that while Puerto Rico has 4,000,000 inhabitants, it has 3,000,000 cars. Dr. Sepulveda led us through Puerto Rico’s 500 years of urbanized history and closed by stating that San Juan is a diffuse city, possible only to travel around via automobile, still stuck on models that are diffuse and reliant on cheap energy; a message that would continue to be discussed, of countries around the world, as the Congress progressed.



The final keynote of the evening, titled “Building a Just, Integrated, and Sustainable Planning and Housing System: The Puerto Rican Experience” was by Plan. Lucilla Fuller-Marvel, Consultant, Social Planning Workshop, Puerto Rico. Lucilla has more than 35 years of experience in social and urban planning, housing and community development in Puerto Rico. She has authored the book “Listen to What They Say: Planning and Community Development in Puerto Rico” and during her keynote called for bridges connecting the different interconnected aspects involved in housing as well as the need for bridges between the past and the future. We were led on a journey of Puerto Rican housing programs from the 1920’s until now, highlighting the successes and issues with each. I was surprised to learn that in the 1954 Puerto Rico Constitution, housing is listed as a basic human right. Unfortunately, while homes have been created, a community has not necessarily been created at the same time. One reason for this is the segregation of residential uses from other uses necessary in our daily lives. Lucilla called for solutions and strategies to improve lives and offer social justice for all, including a safe place to live.

The opening reception was now concluded and the Congress convened to the Welcoming Inaugural Event, “Many Countries, One Destiny: Puerto Rico”.