Melinda Noer, lecturer of agriculture faculty, University of Andalas, Padang, on Saturday (7/6), awarded the title ‘Doktor’ from Urban and Regional Planning Study Program of ITB. Thus after Noer successfully defended her dissertation titled “Role of Local Authority in Decentralized Regional Planning, case study: Planning based on Nagari in Tanah Datar District, West Sumatra Provinces”. Based on her research, Noer explaining that regional planning strategy, within local culture as core basis, is an exact strategy to enact bottom up regional development concept from the region where strong local value still rooted in its citizen. Noer admit that planning with local culture tend to count merely on social basis. However it also having an ability to trigger local resource and economic potential as well, even to the higher level, due to its coordinate lie on the rock bottom already. Meanwhile, in the region where local value is faded away, first thing to do is to rediscover any positive value from the past. Noer emphasized the importance of growing confidence that local authority has power and ability due to its local knowledge which endogenously bending with society’s natural understanding about the means of territory, history, and their own social and economic condition. Melinda Noer was born in Bukittinggi, October 31, 1964. She is mother of three children. She was getting her BA from Agriculture Faculty, University of Andalas in the 1988. On 1991, Noer got Dipl. Ing from University of Dortmund, following with M.Sc titled from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, 1994.