Pierre Laconte (born 17 May 1934,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

), is a Belgian urbanist. He specialises in urban transport and

architectural plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

ning and environmental issues. He has a Doctorate in Law and a Doctorate in Economics from the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and is Dr. honoris causa of the

Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. Laconte is one of the three planners in charge of the ''Groupe Urbanisme & Architecture''. This Group was responsible for the master plan and the architectural co-ordination of

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...

, a pedestrian new university town developed from 1968 on by the University on agricultural land, around a new railway station, 25 km South of Brussels.

has a day/night population of ca 40.000. It won the UIA Abercrombie Award. He received the

UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award was created by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) in 1989 to encourage and recognize the countries, governments, organizations, and individuals who have made great contributions to the deve ...

in 1999, and was the Belgian Government Representative at UN Habitat I in 1976, at Habitat II in 1996, and at the UN Kyoto Conference of Parties on Climate (1997). Laconte was the president of ISOCARP – International Society of City and Regional Planners between 2006–2009, and the Foundation for the Urban Environment.Foundation for the Urban Environment
/ref> He is Council member of Europa Nostra and chairman of Europa Nostra's Industrial and Engineering Heritage Committee. He has been * a member (2004–2011) and Vice-Chairman (2008–2011) of the Scientific Committee of the European Environmental Agency, * member of the Lee Kwan Yew World City Prize Council for 2010 and for 2012, * member of the Advisory Group of Singapore World Cities Summit 2012, * member of the Evaluation team for the European Green Capital Award 2012 and 2013. He is regularly organizing lunch-debates at the Fondation Universitaire, devoted to urban themes.

International activities

* European Environment Agency – EEA (Copenhagen): Vice-President, Scientific Committee in charge of urban issues, since 2003. The EEA, headed by Prof. J. McGlade, is the European Union body gathering environmental information and analysis for the Union. * Europa Nostra, (The Hague): Member of the Council since 2003.

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Latin for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for cultural heritage, Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement ...

, chaired by the Infanta Dona Pilar de Borbon, is the European Federation of heritage associations. * International Association of Public Transport – UITP (Brussels): Honorary Secretary General since 1999 (was SG 1984–1999). UITP is the worldwide network of public transport professionals, the point of reference for the sector and its international policy Forum. *

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

: Member, Sektion Baukunst, since 1995. * Journals "Transport Policy" and "Progress in Planning", Elsevier: Member of the Editorial Board. * Fundacion Metropoli, Madrid: M. Consejo internacional de asesores. * Club of Rome (Brussels EU Chapter): Board M. The

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

is a global think tank and centre of innovation and initiative. *

Urban Land Institute The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a global nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI aims to help its members and their partners build more equitable, sustainable, heal ...

– Member, ULI: European Policy and Practice Committee, London, since 2005. ULI is a non-profit education and research institute with focus on the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. * International Council on Ecopolis Development, Board Member since 2007.

Selected publications

*''Mutations urbaines et Marchés immobiliers'', Brussels: Oyez 1978 – won the Credit Communal/Gemeentekrediet Award 1974-1978 for Law and Economics (being updated) *''Human and Energy Factors in Planning: A Systems Approach'', The Hague; Martinus Nijhoff, 1982. *''Water Resources and Land-Use Planning: A Systems Approach'', The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1982. *''La gare et la ville'' (Train, Station and City), Liège: Editions du Perron, 2003 *''L’aéroport le train et la ville'' (Airport, Train and City), in French & Dutch, Liège: Ed. du Perron, 2005 *''Brussels; Perspectives for a European Capital'', Brussels: Editions Aliter, 2007 - won the '' Gerald L. Young'' Book Award of the Society of Human Ecology, Washington, 2008 *''L’Europe, la Belgique et Bruxelles : Un urbanisme cosmopolite'', Lyon, Editions du Certu (Ministère de l’Equipement), 2007 * In 2016 is to be published ''Sustainable Urban Environments in Europe - Evaluation Criteria and Practices''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laconte, Pierre 1934 births Living people Belgian academics Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni