2008: Professor Anthony Gar-on Yeh, Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning, University of Hong Kong

Professor Anthony Gar-On Yeh, one of the foremost urban planners in Asia, won the 2008 UN-HABITAT Lecture Award which recognizes outstanding and sustained contribution in the field of human settlements. He delivered his lecture entitled GIS as a Planning Support System for the Planning of Harmonious Citieson 4 November, 2008 during the fourth session of the World Urban Forum in Nanjing, People's Republic of China (3-6 November, 2008).

Professor Yeh is currently Dean of the Graduate School, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Director of both the Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong. Apart from serving as honorary professor in key universities and research institutes in China, he has served in numerous academic institutions across Asia in various capacities. He has been the Chairman of the Hong Kong Geographical Association, President of the Hong Kong GIS Association and Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners. Professor Yeh also holds key positions in international associations including as Vice-President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners (1988-91); as Founding Secretary-General of the Asian Planning Schools Association (1993-present) and Founding Secretary-General of the Asia GIS Association (2003-present); and as Chairman of the Geographic Information Science Commission of the International Geographic Union (1996-04).

Having authored 40 books and monographs and over 200 journal papers and book chapters, Professor Yeh has had, and continues to have, a profound influence on thinking and practice in the field of urban planning. In particular, he has pioneered the application of information technologies to the field of urban and regional studies and continues to make outstanding contributions in this regard in addition to his work on new towns in Asia and urban development and planning in Hong Kong and China. His work has had widespread influence on human settlements research and policy formulation within Hong Kong, China and across the Asia-Pacific region.

2007: Professor Martha Schteingart, El Colegio de México, Mexico City, Mexico

Professor Martha Schteingart, one of the most prominent urbanists in Latin America, has been awarded the 2007 UN-HABITAT Lecture Award. She delivered her lecture entitled “Urban Problems and Policies in Latin America. Truths and Fallacies” (English/Spanish) on 4 October, 2007 in Monterrey, Mexico, during the international conference on “The State of Safety in World Cities, 2007”.

She is currently a professor and researcher at the Center for Demographic and Urban Studies (CEDDU) at El Colegio de México, in Mexico City. Professor Schteingart is also a National Researcher of the Mexican System of Researchers and an elected member of the Advisory Committee of the Office of the Ombusdman on Environmental and Urban Issues in the Federal District of Mexico. Professor Schteingart has conducted research and lectured at various universities in Europe, USA and Latin America.

Professor Schteingart is truly outstanding in the field of urban studies and planning. Throughout her extended academic career, she has published 22 books, over 140 book chapters, journal articles and reviews in the areas of urban land and housing, social division and segregation, poverty and social policies, services, transportation and the environment. She has had a significant impact in drawing attention to the shelter needs of the urban poor and her extensive research has influenced the work of academic institutions, governments, private enterprises, civil society organizations and others engaged in the field of human settlements within and beyond Latin America.

2006: Professor John Friedmann, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and University of California (UCLA), USA

Professor Friedmann is currently Honorary Professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at UCLA, USA. He has worked in and written about Latin America, North America, Europe and China, authorizing 15 books and 150 book chapters, articles and reviews as well as co-editing 11 books. He has held numerous major appointments, professorships, fellowships and delivered lectures at leading research and academic institutions world wide. Professor Friedmann is the epitomic progressive planner, influential intellectually and in practice to generations of planning students and practitioners from around the world. His ideas of regional development, world cities, participation and empowerment, and the importance of civil society
in relation to planning and governance have been extremely important in the evolution of planning ideas in both the developed and developing world.