One of the key answer to sustaining in the future is when the urban and territorial planning lays a foundation in the AP region. ESCAP and UN Habitat have also highlighting that the AP countries has advantaged in the diverse value and social economic changes that embodied on their inherited cities that been spreading in the big cities across AP region. In order to sustaining the cities, the AP region need to accelerate their economic and infrastructure growth in the way that will not hurting their legacy and societies. So the theme “Bridging the Past and The Future of Urban Landscape (Cities) in Asia Pacific” in this conference is trying to gather new insight, best practices, policy as well as lessont learnt towards sustainable future AP and also the preservation of what they value in the past. The preservation of cultural heritage assets is aimed at protecting the built expressions of culture, of military, of economic, and religious forces to benefit the present and future of cities. For over 50 years, the integral and holistic approach to heritage and urban development has been highlighted in every heritage-related cultural policy document, stressing the need to balance the benefits of socioeconomic and urban development with the preservation of cultural heritage.

Purpose and objectives

“Cities” is an annual gathering of scholars and practitioners hosted by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS). Since it was first held in 2005, Cities has covered a wide range of topics related to urban and regional planning and development themes. This year, Cities focuses on the attempt to bridge the past and the future of the urban landscape in the Asia Pacific region. A recent UN report on the future of Asian and Pacific cities mentioned that Asian cities are seeing a host of creative initiatives in the upgrading of public spaces in and around informal and heritage neighbourhoods in cities. Therefore, Cities would like to highlight the uniqueness of the Asia Pacific area.The conference theme will be discussed (but not limited) under the following streams/tracks:

1. The inherited city: urban heritage landscape: the conflict between the preservation of the character of existing historic town and change;

2. Urban renewal and regeneration: seeking effective urban regeneration strategies to respond to contemporary quality-of-life issues;

3. Sustainable tourism: creative initiatives in the upgrading of public spaces in and around informal and heritage neighbourhoods in cities bring new avenues for sustainable tourism;

4. Novel and smart approaches to enhancing urban infrastructure: implementation, as well as investment in and retrofitting of infrastructure to keep up with the demands of the contemporary city.; energy and 4.0 issues??

5. Environmental sustainability and adaptations to climate change: urban-rural integration to provide nature-based solutions, eco-based services and food production. Most cities in the Asia-Pacific region already has urban agriculture as an ingrained component of local cultural practices. Micro, low-tech, and nature-based approaches are becoming increasingly important due to lower costs in leveraging ecosystem services to protect cities against resource depletion and extreme weather. Several disaster events across Asia-Pacific illustrate the need for cities in the Asia-Pacific region to build resilience in the face of natural disasters, social upheavals, and economic downturns.