By Our Correspondent
The Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON) has marked World Habitat Day, calling on professionals in the built environment to take collective action in addressing urban challenges facing Nigeria and the world.
The President of ATOPCON, Tpl Hakeem Olatunji Badejo in a statement made available to Newsline NG emphasized the need for town planning consultants to connect the dots between last year's theme, "engaging youth to create a better urban future," and this year's theme, "urban crisis response."
Badejo noted that engaging and mentoring youths in participating in rapid urbanization would prepare them for the higher class of urban challenges, both natural and man-made, facing Nigeria and the world.
He identified natural crises confronting human settlements as flash floods, inundation of streams and rivers, sea rise, landslide, desertification, pollution, and others, while man-made crises include terrorist attacks, slum and blighted areas, social injustices, and inequalities creating uneven urban settlements.
Others are corruption, shortage of housing, lack of infrastructure, lack of employment opportunities, failure to address emigration of youths, failure to accept robust professional advice in the built environment, and failure to act locally on international standards on human settlements and health management.
Badejo stressed that town planning consultants must work as partners with local, state, and regional governments to shape the future of cities and towns, advising governments on the protection of ecological assets and envisioning cities that protect, conserve, restore, and promote ecosystems.
He urged professionals in the built environment to be at the forefront of addressing urban challenges, making towns and cities livable, and ensuring that plans address and encourage urban managers to implement approved plans.
Badejo wished professionals in the built environment and inhabitants of neighborhoods, communities, towns, and cities a happy World Habitat Day, calling for long live Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC), and Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON).
The UN Habitat on Human Settlements set aside the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day, recognized by the United Nations to reflect on the state of towns and cities globally.
Badejo emphasized that town planning consultants should be concerned with orderly urban setting and good quality of life of inhabitants, continuously addressing these to make towns and cities livable.
By striving to achieve this, Badejo said, communities, towns, and cities can be crisis-free, and he urged all stakeholders to act decisively without leaving anyone behind.
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