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"Cities and Climate Change:
Responding to an Urgent Agenda"
Traduction simultanée : anglais - français / Simultaneous translation : english
- french
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Marseille, France
June 28-30, 2009
and
side events: June 27, June 28,
and July 1, 2009 |
News:
- More than 300 responses were received to the Survey on Cities and Climate Change Researchers. First results will be available soon in the
Data section.
- More than 600 people from 82 countries registered for the Symposium (see in the
Data section).
- The Symposium featured 8 teams of commissioned researchers, 8 plenary sessions, 10 invited sessions, about 150 papers in 33 parallel sessions, 4 side events (on June 27 and July 1st), posters and an exhibition area.
- Several side events were organized before and after the Symposium (see the side events section.
- Initial
data is now available
on the speakers and the attendance of the Symposium.
- More than 500 proposals,
coming from about 80 countries, were received for the call for
papers. Thank you to all the authors and co-authors. The list of the
selected papers is available in the Program
section.
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The topic for the 5th Urban Research Symposium was Cities and Climate Change: Responding to the Urgent Agenda. At a time when climate change is a major priority for the international community, this Symposium aimed at pushing forward the research agenda on climate change from a city’s perspective. Specifically, the main questions were structured around the impacts of city and urban growth on climate change; measuring and anticipating the consequences of climate change on urban quality of life, city assets, and local and national economies; and assessing alternatives to increase the resilience of cities and related costs and incentives required for successful implementation.
The Symposium was structured around five broad
research clusters which represented the most relevant issues faced by cities and
peri-urban areas on climate change.
Cluster 1:
Science and Indicators of Climate Change and Related Impacts:
Understanding and measuring how cities impact, and are impacted by, climate
change.
Cluster 2:
Infrastructure, Built Environment, and Energy Efficiency: Planning
efficiently and effectively to increase the resilience of cities.
Cluster 3:
Role of Institutions, Governance, and Urban Planning: Improving
management, coordination, and planning of cities to meet climate change
challenges.
Cluster 4:
Incentive policies, economics and finance: Understanding how and why
cities respond to climate change.
Cluster 5:
Social aspects of climate change: Understanding and reducing
vulnerability of urban populations to climate change.
There were three methods in which research was presented and shared at
the Symposium. First, a background paper on each cluster summarizing the current
literature and, more importantly, identifying the knowledge gaps, was
commissioned. Second, commissioned research on specific topics was
undertaken through direct funding from our partners. Third, an open call for
papers was distributed through the World Bank, its partners, major research
journals and listservs. Adaptation and mitigation were given equal priority in the selection of proposals. Researchers from
developing countries whose papers were accepted were given priority in the
allocation of funding for travel to the Symposium. Authors of papers that did not
make the final set were invited to make their presentation in the form of
posters.
Two publications are expected to be produced following the Symposium. The first
publication will include the ten most relevant and cutting-edge research papers
directed towards academics and researchers. The second will be a handbook aimed
at decision makers of no more than 40 short papers on the practical applications
of dealing with the challenge of climate change in cities. These papers will
have a strong emphasis on policy implications, mitigation and adaptation
strategies, and new options for financing climate change-related policies and
technologies.
The Symposium benefited
greatly from input and ideas provided by a number of individuals.
Your
views are important....
Please
let us know by email,
urbansymposium@worldbank.org,
your comments on the Urban Research Symposia. We look forward to hearing from you.
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