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Urban Futures and Climate Change in India: impacts and implications
24 May 2017, 4:00 pm–5:30 pm
Event Information
Open to
- All
Organiser
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The Bartlett Development Planning Unit
Location
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Pearson Building (North East Entrance) G22 LT
Urban India is very vulnerable to climate change impacts whether because of location, resource dependence, or existing environmental risks. Moreover, Indian cities are confronted with a range of socio-economic, governance and environmental challenges, which are predicted to increase as the effects of climate change accelerate. Simultaneously, cities in India can support a national transition to sustainability.
India is also playing a big role in the politics of climate change globally. Although India has the second largest urban system globally, its carbon footprint is relatively low. However, this will change radically in the next 15 years, as the proportion of its urban population rises to 40% and lifestyles change. By 2025, there will likely be 70 Indian cities with more than 1 million inhabitants.
Aromar Revi will discuss the contradictions and congruencies of Indian urban futures in the context of climate change, drawing out some of the key implication for governance, planning and education.
Aromar Revi is the Director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), India’s prospective independent national University for Research & Innovation addressing its urbanisation challenges through an integrated programme of education, research, practice and training. He is an international practitioner, consultant, researcher and educator with over thirty years of inter-disciplinary experience in public policy and governance, the political economy of reform, development, technology, sustainability and human settlements. Currently he is a member of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), co-chair of its Urban thematic group, where he led a global campaign for the urban Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Aromar is also one of South Asia’s leading experts on global environmental change & climate adaptation and mitigation. He is a Coordinating Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report 5 on Urban Areas. Aromar has made significant contributions to human settlements development in India, for which he was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 1990.