The World Planners Congress was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from June 17 to June 20, 2006. The congress was hosted by the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Planning Institute of British Columbia, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Association of Planners. It immediately preceded the UN Habitat World Urban Forum III, also being held in Vancouver. The theme of the congress was "Sustainable Urbanization: Turning Ideas into Action", and its purpose was "to explore the dimensions of sustainable urbanization for diverse variety of communities and environments, including those facing challenging rates of growth, migration, and decline."
One outcome of the congress was its contribution, with the American Planning Association and Royal Town Planning Institute, to a Declaration of Principles and Best Practices for Sustainable Urbanization. This declaration sought to reconnect planning with the challenges posed by rapid urbanization, the urbanization of poverty, hazards from climate change, and the Millennium Development Goals (particularly MDG 7). It stated, among other things, that "Planning, and its values and ethics, are fundamental to good governance and a means to deliver more equal access to the benefits cities have to offer." The declaration reflected the emergence of what has been coined "new urban planning", a term discussed in a position paper setting out the thinking behind the declaration.