56th Annual Conference, 3-6 November 2016, Portland, Oregon
By Mee Kam NG
The room was packed when we had the Roundtable discussion: "Insurgencies and Revolutions: Reflections on John Friedmann's contributions to planning as a vocation". Six of us raised questions to John and he responded. It was a very lively session. I was the first one to raise a question and each of us had only one minute. I could not remember the exact wordings I used but I think I asked him about human nature and how could we ensure the making of a more just and sustainable society even if we managed to transform existing skewed power relationships found in many parts of the earth. I have this very serious question in my head for a long time but for reasons that I could not fathom, the question led to a big round of laughter. Then John being John came out, looked at me and then the powerpoint background slide with the words "Planning as a Vocation" on it (see below) and said, "Mee Kam: do not take things so seriously. Let us take 'Planning as a Vacation'!"—another round of big laughs! Well—I have to confess that I did make a typo and typed "vocation" as "vacation" when I prepared the background slide if not because of the sharp eyes of the first editor of the book...
The Conference featured four distinguished keynote speakers. Professor Mike Douglass from the National University of Singapore spoke about collective agency and resilience, as well as the rise of progressive cities in Asia. Professor Wallace Chang, an architectural practitioner and social activist in Hong Kong, presented his work on Kai Tak River and the "E-pathy City". Professor Hendrik Tieben of the CUHK School of Architecture shared with us his "Magic Carpet" project and his reflections on Tactical Urbanism. Dr Ryan Reynolds of Gap Filler, the Conference's first participant from New Zealand, gave an inspiring presentation on the creative urbanism that took place in Christchurch after the devastating earthquake in 2010. In addition to the keynote presentations, 18 breakout sessions were held over the two days. The breakout sessions were divided into three different themes – Resilient Urban Planning and Design, Designing for Spatial Justice, and Human Flourishing. The presentations covered a wide range of topics, including ecological democracy, urban commoning and community-based urban regeneration, to name a few.
The discussion focused on challenges for contemporary planning research, practice and pedagogy that have also been key themes in Friedmann's work: the role of hope in planning theory; transactive planning and social learning to inform models of alternative development; urban planning and development in China; world cities; and the enduring but enigmatic notion of the good city.
In his annual Christmas greetings, John recounted the event and said,
"When I started out on my career in planning, back in the late forties, I could not have imagined that it would conclude with such a Festschrift in 2016. It is indeed the greatest honor for me to see how ideas developed 'on the run,' so to speak, have somehow inspired you in the many different ways you have done, and now to 'play them back' to me in your essays, allowing me to see the full harvest of this life in planning."
I am forever grateful to John's teaching and footprint in my life, without which my knowledge generation enterprise might be very different. The trust in empowering the community and the belief that a goof life is "rather about the quality of human relationships" (Friedmann, 1998, p.20) continue to resonate in every single piece of my academic work! Thank you Professor John Friedmann!