The Policy Network as a Strategic Planning Tool: A New Approach to Urban Planning in the Global South

Elliott Sclar is a professor of urban planning. An economist and urban planner, he is the director of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) at Columbia University's Earth Institute, one of six global centers of excellence supported by the Volvo Foundations of Gothenburg, Sweden. Professor Sclar's research interests include urban economic development, transportation, and public service economics.

Sclar was a co-coordinator of the Taskforce on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers, one of ten task forces set up by the UN Millennium Project to aid in the implementation of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. He was a lead author on the Taskforce's book length report (2005): A Home in the City and from Earthscan.

He is a nationally recognized expert on privatization: his book You Don't Always Get What You Pay For: The Economics of Privatization (Cornell 2000) won two major academic prizes: the Louis Brownlow Award for the Best Book of 2000 from the National Academy of Public Administration and the 2001 Charles Levine Prize from the International Political Science Association and Governance magazine for a major contribution to public policy literature.

Professor Sclar is also active outside of the classroom. He is a member of the board of directors of Trillium Asset Management, the largest socially responsible investment advisory firm in the United States, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Wainwright Bank and Trust Company, a leading community bank in Boston. Sclar is a member of the American Planning Association and the Society of American City and Regional Planning History.

Elliot Sclar holds a BA from Hofstra University (1963) and an MA from Tufts University (1966). He earned his PhD at Tufts (1972). Prior to his appointment at Columbia University, he was an assistant professor of urban economics at Brandeis University's Heller School (1972-78).

World Town Planning Day
World Town Planning Day is celebrated in 30 countries on four continents each November 8. It is a special day to recognize and promote the role of planning in creating livable communities. World Town Planning Day presents an excellent opportunity to look at planning from a global perspective, and APA encourages its members to consider planning challenges and solutions around the globe on that day.

The American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) endorses World Town Planning Day as a strategy to promote a broad-based awareness, support, and advocacy of community and regional planning among the general public and all levels of government through activities in recognition of American accomplishments on World Town Planning Day.

Why celebrate World Town Planning Day?
- To draw attention to the aims, objectives, and progress of urban and regional planning around the globe.
- To highlight the valuable contributions 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.