A Pre-COP Event on the built environment co-hosted by the International Downtown Association and the Association of Town and City Management
The world is at a tipping point.
The average global surface temperature is already in excess of 1.1°c above pre-industrial levels. The 1.5°C (2.7°F) milestone feared by climate scientists could be surpassed as soon as the decade if greenhouse gas emissions persist at current levels.
With climate change already triggering extreme weather across the globe, a rapid transition is required, and the city must be at the heart of this transition. Home to more than half of the world’s population, responsible for nearly half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and acutely vulnerable to climate change, urban areas are where this fight will be won and lost. However, the scale and speed of change needed for both mitigation and adaptation may be unprecedented in human history and riddled in complexity. And one of those complexities is fragmentation.
The role of urban place management may be more important today than at any time in the industry’s young history – to overcome fragmentation and provide a coordinated response to the climate crisis.
Divided We Fall: Cities and the Climate Crisis brings together experts across government, climate science and urban place management to discuss Cities and the Climate Crisis ahead of COP26 conference in Glasgow, now being billed as the most important international summit in history. Led by the International Downtown Association and the Association of Town and City Management, this discussion will ask if urban place management is ready to tackle humanity’s biggest challenge.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Understanding the Climate Crisis
Dr Neil Jennings
Partnership Development Manager
Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London
Cities: The Local Battleground in a Global War
Lauren Racusin, AICP
Urban Planning, Sustainability and Economic Development
Bloomberg Associates
Divided We Fall: The Challenge of Fragmentation in City Governance
Alice Charles
Lead Cities and Real Estate
World Economic Forum
One-on-One Interview on Cities and the Climate Crisis
Dr Rafiq Hamdi, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, (Lead Author for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) with Ojay McDonald, CEO of the Association of Town and City Management
United We Stand Panel Debate – Can Place Management Drive Urban Climate Action?
Lisa Carlson, CEO of Canterbury BID (UK) and Chair of the Association of Town and City Management
Leona Agouridis, Executive Director, Golden Triangle BID (Washington D.C)
Tasso Evangelinos, CEO, Cape Town Central City Improvement District
Co-chaired by David Downey, CEO and President of the International Downtown Association and Ojay McDonald, the CEO of the Association of Town and City Management.
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