As many of you might know already, the 54^th IFHP World Congress will be held in Porto Alegre, in Brazil. The congress will be hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and it takes place on 13-17 November 2010. We will elaborate on the main theme 'Building communities in the city of the future'.

The subthemes, discussed in three days, are ‘Low-cost/low-income Communities and Social Sustainability’, ‘Public Involvement and Governance in Today’s World‘ and ‘Urban design and Social Relations: Urban Modernism 50 Years on’.  In 2010, we can celebrate the 50st birthday of the modernist city and capital of brazil, Brasilia. We cannot miss this opportunity to address urban modernism and this fascinating city specifically. Therefore we dedicated the third sub theme to the heritage of the modern movement.

Besides that, the congress will  include a study visit to Brasilia. Also other places will be included; Porto Alegre and its region, and possibly trips to Curitiba, São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro will be offered to the congress visitors. Porto Alegre is particular for its participatory budgeting. Participatory budgeting is a governance concept which allows residents to decide about the  allocation of municipal or public budget. The first pure participatory budgeting projects were implemented in Porto Alegre in 1989.