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Many of you reading this survey will not be surprised to know that the pace of urbanization in many countries far outstrips the capacity within the built environment professions to plan effectively and sustainably for that growth. Yet the pressing need for well-planned towns and cities could not be greater in the context of the two other most critical and inter-related issues of our time – climate change and accelerating loss of bio-diversity. Rapid urbanization is especially concerning for the Commonwealth, where nearly half of the projected growth in the world’s urban population over the next thirty years is expected to take place. A large proportion of this growth will be concentrated on secondary cities and towns, where the lack of resources to deal with the intense pressures they face is even more acute. In this context, the detail and analysis provided by this survey, the first of its kind in the Commonwealth, could not be more crucial and timely. The seriousness and scale of the issues revealed – a critical shortfall in professional capacity compared to demand, insufficient provision of relevant education and a weakness in built environment policy – will require urgent action. However, the strong collaboration involved in creating this survey – particularly in sharing information, experience and solutions between associations of architects, engineers, planners and surveyors across the diverse regions and contexts of the Commonwealth – lays a platform for positive action. Access to this data and analysis will help to pin-point where, and how, to prioritise responses to these immense challenges, in which built environment professionals across the Commonwealth will collectively play such a vital role. Therefore, I can only congratulate the four Commonwealth associations for the leadership they have shown in collaborating to survey these issues. I am proud and delighted that my own Foundation has been able to support, in some small way, a growing and connected partnership of Commonwealth organisations – which, importantly, also includes the Commonwealth Local Government Forum and the Association of Commonwealth Universities – to focus efforts on ensuring genuinely sustainable urbanization that will directly help communities across the Commonwealth. I need hardly say that I look forward with great anticipation to the ground-breaking actions that will flow from this collaboration.