1st International Conference on Urbanization and Global Environmental Change: Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability in an Urbanizing World
October 15-17, 2010 | Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Our first international UGEC conference (Tempe, AZ, USA, October 2010) created a space for meeting and discussion between international scholars and practitioners who work at the interface of urban areas and GEC. It proved to be a critical event for the project as it allowed for an assessment and a strengthening of the UGEC community and provided a greater understanding of how to best move forward strategically. The UGEC 2010 conference was critical for stocktaking and the dissemination of new research to the wider community, influencing the international research agenda in the years following the conference.
Of notable interest during the conference was the ‘Special Panel on UGEC research and the 2014 IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5)’, as well as the networking event ‘Modeling and Forecasting Urban Land-Use Change: An Earth System Science Perspective’ the first phase of a two-part international workshop that took place in April 2011.
One output of the conference is the fifth issue of UGEC Viewpoints (April, 2011) which provides a selection of the diverse research presented and discussed at the 2010 UGEC conference.
Click here to download the Conference Book of Abstracts
Click here to download the Conference Program
Sponsors
Supporters
Concept
In the past three years, a growing number of researchers and practitioners have expanded our understanding of the importance of urban areas for global environmental change. The UGEC Project has been leading the way towards a stronger collaboration between academics, decision-makers and practitioners in order to capture the benefits of urbanization and develop ways to mitigate and adapt to global environmental change. Researchers and practitioners in the UGEC network continue to explore new themes within the framework of Global Environmental Change (GEC) science, focusing on new pathways for the sustainability of current and future urban areas, the impacts of GEC on urban areas and the responses of urban areas to those impacts.
The International Conference on Urbanization and Global Environmental Change “Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability in an Urbanizing World” will be open to scientists, policymakers and the general public and will provide a comprehensive perspective of current knowledge of the dynamic and complex interactions between urbanization and global environmental change. This conference is organized in close cooperation with the Global Land Project (GLP), who will host their Open Science Meeting from October 17-19. GLP is a joint research project for land systems for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). Both UGEC and GLP will convene on Sunday, October 17th under the theme of “Sustainable Land Systems in the Era of Urbanization and Climate Change” in order to focus jointly on themes surrounding the urban, land, and climate change interface. The themes that these linkages bring forward are becoming more prominent in global change and climate change science as suggested by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other major agenda-setting reports, recent and forthcoming, internationally. The goal of this day is to build contacts and networks among urban and land-change specialists to foster more collaboration worldwide, expanding the range of issues addressed.
Click here to download the full Concept Note.
Plenary Sessions
Friday, October 15th & Saturday, October 16th
Addressing vulnerability & adaptation to climate change in the context of urban development
Panelists:
James Lopez, Senior Advisor to HUD Deputy Secretary Ron Sims, USA
Aromar Revi, Director of the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS), India
Roberto Sanchez Rodriguez, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico and University of California, Riverside, USA
Cheikh Mbow, Professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Dakar, Senegal
Sustainability through rapid urban and population growth
Panelists:
Peter J. Marcotullio, Hunter College, CUNY, USA
George Martine, Consultant at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Brazil
Stephen Wheeler, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture Program, University of California at Davis, USA
William Solecki, Hunter College, CUNY, USA
Institutions, governance, planning, and sustainability
Panelists:
JoAnn Carmin, Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Rafael Tuts, Chief of the Urban Environmental Planning Branch, UN-Habitat, Kenya
Harriet Bulkeley, Professor in the Department of Geography, Durham University, UK
Shuaib Lwasa, Makerere University, Uganda
Local action for biodiversity – Building resilience from the roots up
Panelists:
Debra Roberts, Deputy Head, Environmental Management, Development Planning, Environment and Management Unit, eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa
Christopher Boone, Arizona State Universtiy, USA
Christopher Granger, City of Cape Town’s Environmental Department, South Africa
Richard Boon, Manager, Biodiversity Planning,Environment Planning and Climate Protection Department Development Planning, eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa
UGEC/GLP Joint Day – Sunday, October 17th
Marina Alberti, Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning and Director of the Urban Ecology Research Laboratory at the University of Washington, USA
Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University, USA
Grady Gammage Jr., Senior Fellow at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy and practicing attorney, USA
Patricia Gober, Arizona State University Professor and co-Director of the National Science Foundation’s Decision Center for a Desert City, USA
Nancy Grimm, Arizona State University Professor and co-Director of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Project (CAP LTER), USA
Morgan Grove, Researcher for the US Forest Service and Principal Investigator in NSF’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program’s Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), USA
Karen C. Seto, Yale University, USA
Billie Turner, Arizona State University, USA
International Conference on Urbanization and Global Environmental Change International Science and Planning Committee (ISPC)
To view each ISPC member’s biography please click here.
Harriet A. Bulkeley, Ph.D., Durham University, UK
Urbano Fra Paleo, Ph.D., University of Extremadura, Spain
Nancy Grimm, Ph.D., Arizona State University, USA
Shu-li Huang, Ph.D., National Taipei University, Taiwan
Ricardo Jordán, Ph.D., Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division ECLAC United Nations, Santiago, Chile
Shuaib Lwasa, Ph.D., Makerere University, Uganda
Peter J. Marcotullio, Ph.D., Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), USA
Charles Redman, Ph.D., Arizona State University, USA
Debra Roberts, Ph.D., Ethekwini Municipality, South Africa
Patricia Romero-Lankao, Ph.D., University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), USA
Roberto Sanchez-Rodriguez, Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, USA
Karen C. Seto, Ph.D., Yale University, USA
J. Marshall Shepherd, Ph.D., University of Georgia, USA
William Solecki, Ph.D., Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), USA
UGEC Staff
Michail Fragkias, Ph.D.
Executive Officer, UGEC Project
Global Institute of Sustainability
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Corrie Griffith
Project Coordinator, UGEC Project
Global Institute of Sustainability
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA