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Urban and regional planning is a dynamic field that requires innovative solutions from committed and thoughtful individuals. Historically, it emerged out of the convergence of two concerns:
- The provision of urban infrastructure; and
- The initiation of social reform
Today, the underlying focus on community well-being continues, urban and regional planning has broadened to include the development, implementation, and evaluation of a wide range of policies. Specifically urban and regional planners, in both developing and developed countries, are concerned with:
- The use of land in the city, in the suburbs, and in rural areas, and particularly with the transition from one use to another;
- Potentially adverse impacts of human activities on a limited physical environment and the possible mitigation of those impacts;
- The design of the city and the surrounding region so as to facilitate the activities in which people need and desire to engage;
- Settlement systems and the location of human activities in urban and regional space;
- Identification of social needs and the design and provision of services and facilities to meet those needs;
- The distribution of resources, benefits and costs among people;
- The anticipation of change and its impact on how people do and can live;
- Participation of citizens in planning processes which affect their future; and
- The way that choices are made, decisions implemented and actions evaluated, and the means by which those processes can be improved in urban and regional areas
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.