World Town Planning Day

Thank you very much, good afternoon, greetings and welcome for the exhibition forum 2017, voice
your cities, envisioning a better tomorrow.

It is an honor to welcome you today in this particular occasion, an occasion intends to inspire the
planning minds for the effective use of technology in the planning activities.

I’m pleased to see, all of you here today specially the president of ITPSL, past presidents, guest
speaker, session presenters from different institutions, all the dignitaries from different organizations,
lecturers, members of ITPSL, members of YPF and undergraduates.

I warmly welcome you all for this special occasion on commemorating the world town planning day
2017.

The international organization for World Town Planning Day was founded in 1949 by the late
Professor Carlos Maria Paolera of the University of Buenos Aires to advance public and professional
interest in planning, both locally and internationally.

Planners from over many nations celebrate their achievements in helping to create more sustainable
communities and places. It is a special day to recognize and promotes the role of planning in creating
livable communities.

Why Celebrate World Town Planning Day?

The world town planning day celebration is to draw attention to the aims, objectives, and progress of
urban and regional planning around the globe.

To highlight the valuable contributions of sound planning has made to the quality of global human
settlements and their environment.

To give worldwide coverage to the ideals of urban and regional planning not only within the
profession but also among the general public.

Town planning history of Sri Lanka

City planning in Sri Lanka goes back to the 3rd century B.C, and Anuradhapura City which is the first
city in the country, was planned by the King Pandukabhaya. The city and human settlement located
near Malwathu Oya River.

The first stage is establishment of small agricultural communities on the malwathu oya river banks.
Then the growth of the city center and third stage is the development of monasteries.

Sri Lanka came under the domination of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British from year of 1505. In
particular the Dutch period contributed to the traditional architecture of the buildings.

The development of present town planning principles and practices traced back to the British in
1802. The housing and town improvement ordinance of 1915 began on physical planning and urban
development of Sri Lanka.

The town and country planning ordinance which came into effect in 1946 was mainly concerned with
the orderly and planned development of towns, preservation of places of historical and architectural
interest and areas of scenic beauty.
After Independence

In 1948, the Government invited Sir Patrick Abecrombie to prepare a regional plan for Colombo and
its surrounding region covering an area of 220 square miles. The region included the capital city, the
adjoining built-up urban area and a considerable extent of rural country in the periphery.

In 1978, UNDP assisted Sri Lanka in preparing the Master Plan for the Colombo Metropolitan Region.
It consisted of two interrelated documents, namely the Colombo Metropolitan Regional Structure
Plan and the Colombo Urban Area Plan.

The establishment of the Urban Development Authority as a planning organization was also a direct
outcome of the Colombo Master Plan. The City of Colombo Development Plan was prepared and
gazetted by the Urban Development Authority in 1985 and it enabled the UDA to implement zoning
and building regulations.

The Profession

When we come to the modern City planning, Oliver Weerasinghe the first town planner of Sri Lanka
who planned the development of the new city of Anuradhapura in 1940's, as a step to preserving the
ancient city. After independence, until 1980, Sri Lanka had only few Town Planners, and all of them
had foreign academic and professional qualifications.

The establishment of the Institute of Town Planners, Sri Lanka was in 1982 under the presidency of
late Professor Neville Gunaratna, one of the pioneer Town Planners in Sri Lanka. The Institute was
incorporated by the Parliament of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka by Act No 23 of 1986. It
has the legal status to offer the membership to the qualified Town Planning graduates to enable
them to practice as fully fledged Town Planners.

After commencement of the M.Sc Degree Course in Town and Country Planning and Post Graduate
Diploma Course at the University of Moratuwa a considerable number of Town Planners obtained
qualifications. Now the Department of Town & Country Planning is moving to multidisciplinary
approach in planning modules form a vast range of fields by offering the B.Sc. Honors Degree of
Town and Country Planning and Master of Spatial Planning, Management and Design.

The inter domain gaps

It is admitted that the relationships between scientific research, public policy and the society are
sustained through complex processes, and the technically simulative procedures can widely support
in making decisions related to those.

Therefore, the knowledge-driven or problem-solving based models, widely adopted in social

sciences, are useful to gain a good understanding of this relationship.

The gaps between research communities and interest groups inhibit the transfer of knowledge,
which emerge from research findings which is instrumental in the formulation of new practices.

One of the less discussed reasons behind the confinement of knowledge into containers is the
absence of proper communication and collaborations among different institutions and individuals
engaged in research. This gap leaves less space for good practices to emerge and appropriate policies
to be formulated.
The need, therefore, is a strong nexus between research groups, policy makers and the implementing
agents. Formalization of these communities will internalize many capabilities from different parties
into a stronger nexus between research and policy.

Therefore, this small attempt of Young Planners Forum is to enlighten the both research
organizations and development policy makers to share their knowledge and capacities, so that
ultimately the Sri Lankan community would harness the potentials of effective resource mobilization.

Thank you very much for all of you for your valuable time and for all of your patience, May the forum
begins.

Thank you.