The participants in this morning's meeting come from five different European countries: Croatia, Finland, Portugal, The Netherlands, and the UK. They are Jo Barnett and Diarmaid Lawlor (UK), Lada Hršak and Professor Tihomir Jukić (Croatia), Tuomas Toivonen (Finland), Professor Stefano Musso (Italy), Professor Rui Braz Alfonso and Tiago Coelho (Portugal), and Sander Lap, Rob van Leeuwen, Bas Liesker, Hans van der Made, Aart Oxenaar and Ingeborg Thoral from The Netherlands. They all are in one way or the other engaged in the professional practice of urban planning or urban design, and some of them practice both. In some countries the distinction between these disciplines is hardly defined and therefore they are being lumped together. That is also evident in architectural education, where urbanism is not taught as a distinct discipline.
   'Given this fact it is very interesting to learn from each other where the action is, says Rogier van den Berg, 'and to know which bodies are involved in the development of urban projects. How big are the differences in the practice of urban planning and urban design in Europe? Let's hear it from our guests.'

For example, the city of Porto grew steadily in densification, but there was no plan for the growth of the city. The inner city had to be rebuilt, but instead we saw a vast growth of the peripheries. But as the outlying land was owned by various landowners, it was again very difficult to work out a master plan.’ Nevertheless, says Professor Braz Alfonso, ‘education in urban planning has a high level in Porto. The tutors are always connected with the practice and students can obviously benefit from this.’
   Rogier van den Berg was educated at the Delft Technical University in The Netherlands. He holds office in Rotterdam (Zandbelt&van den Berg – architecture and urban design). His office makes large scale metropolitan designs for projects in cities and for a region that is commonly known as the Randstad. ‘In our projects we seek for a new balance between various stakeholders. This worked out well with a housing project in the city of Almere where we worked together with an alderman who shared our view. In my opinion, a urban planner must also be a negotiator; someone who is able to construct an argument for different stakeholders to choose for this or that design. You need a negotiating concept to create value in the right way. So you become a regulator instead of a partitioner. What we need is a new model for public section participation that is positive rather than a stand in the way.’
   Diarmaid Lawlor mentions the chaotic situation in Scotland in negotiating with various stakeholders, where at least fourty five agencies are involved. It is often not clear what the motivation of a project developer is. ‘I often see that the chosen design has no connection with the place where it is to be built. For instance, we have a lot of houses in Scotland, but a lack of communities. We also do know not where the funding comes from. There is little supervision from the state. Therefore it may be desirable that the role of the state will change.’
   Hans van der Made (an senior urban planner who works for the Urban Planning Office of the City of Amsterdam) agrees with the premise that urban planning is all about making profits. ‘In Amsterdam we make a new master plan every ten years. We especially look how to increase our housing supply and how we can spend state money as efficient as possible.’
   Professor Jukic agrees. ‘In Zagreb I see a new celebration of capitalism. We make a new masterplan every fifteen or twenty years. But we nevertheless encounter well known problems. Firstly, we are dealing with a conservative party that governs the city; second, there is no control at some sixty percent of all building projects. The city of Zagreb consists of two parts; it has two different governments. One is led by the conservative party, the other by a Austrian bank named Hempel that owns lots of land. For that reason they set the rules for a large proportion of all building projects. Also private partnership has a great influence on the plans.’
   Although she agrees with Professor's Jukic somewhat grim analysis, Lada Hršak (a Croatian-born architect who lives and works in The Netherlands) is optimistic about the informal growth of Zagreb. 'I see an explosion of a new “we can do” mentality, and that needs to be encouraged’, she says.
   Tuomas Toivonen from Finland