26 February 2014
Guardian Cities launches an interactive map on life expectancy in cities based on LSE Cities’ data. The map uses a mixture of data from LSE Cities and the World Health Organisation to compare the national average with that of specific cities.
20 February 2014
LSE Cities’ Ricky Burdett is giving four lectures about London at the Department of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard Graduate School of Design on 18, 20, 25 and 27 February.
The lectures are offered through the course Cities by Design. Each semester the course focuses on a number of cities as case studies, exploring the parameters affecting the formation of contemporary urban environments. Each case is presented over a series of lectures by a distinguished scholar who has a deep familiarity with the examined city. For full details, visit the Harvard website.
Prof. Burdett’s London lectures will focus on the following topics:
February 20 – Towards Organic Urbanism: Transformation of London’s cultural, economic, and physical profile through piecemeal interventions since 2000, fostered by a pro-development planning regime and strong entrepreneurial tradition
February 25 – The 2012 Olympics: The urban design and planning parameters of the massive yet short-lived event, which sought to establish a long-term legacy that would bring homes, jobs, and opportunities to one of London’s less affluent but well-connected communities
February 27 – The Great Leap Eastwards: New development initiatives in East London, anticipated to accommodate most of London’s jobs and population growth over the next 20 years.
Cities by Design – London Lectures
Ricky Burdett, London School of Economics
18, 20, 25 and 27 February 2014, 10:00-11:30am
Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall
48 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA 02138
19 February 2014
Suzi Hall presented her latest research at the LSE London series on ‘Migration and the transformation of London’ on the 10th of February, in a talk on ‘Locating Urban Migration: from Census to Street’.
17 February 2014
Fran Tonkiss contributes to current issue of ‘Americas Quarterly’, on an ‘Ask the experts’ conflab with Sergio Fajardo Valderrama, governor of Antioquia, Colombia, and Sergio Cabral, governor the State of Rio de Janeiro.
10 February 2014
In the first episode of a three-part series on Brazil, the LSE Review of Books Podcast takes a closer look at the city of Rio de Janeiro to uncover wider issues that face the world’s fastest growing cities. Before talking to LSE and Brazilian authors about their books on Brazil, LSERB podcast producer, Cheryl Brumley, made her first stop at the annual Urban Age Conference to hear how politicians, academics and planners from cities around the globe grapple with city transformations. The conference, put on by LSE Cities and the Alfred Herrhausen Society, is a globetrotting event which invites 70 experts to participate in a two-day investigation of cities. The conference took place in Rio amidst unprecedented urban transformation and ambitious redevelopment projects, spurred on by the impending World Cup and Olympic Games.
This podcast features Ricky Burdett, Director of LSE Cities, and architectural adviser to the London 2012 Olympics; Washington Farjado, Adviser on Urban Affairs to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro; Dame Tessa Jowell, MP and former UK Minister for the Olympics; Enrique Peñalosa, former Mayor of Bogota; Amanda Burden, Director of the New York City Department of Planning; and many others.
7 February 2014
Ricky Burdett is interviewed in the Wall Street Journal about the transformation facing Sochi, and the legacy the Olympics can leave on a city. To read the full interview click here.
The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate is a major new international initiative to analyse and communicate the economic benefits and costs of acting on climate change. Chaired by former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón, the Commission comprises former heads of government and finance ministers and leaders in the fields of economics and business.
The New Climate Economy (NCE) is the Commission’s flagship project. The project is being undertaken by a global partnership of research institutes and a core team led by Programme Director Jeremy Oppenheim. An Advisory Panel of world-leading economists, chaired by Lord Nicholas Stern will carry out an expert review of the work. It aims to provide independent and authoritative evidence on the relationship between actions which can strengthen economic performance and those which reduce the risk of dangerous climate change, and to influence global debate about the future of economic growth and climate action. It will report in September 2014 in advance of the United Nations Climate Summit.
LSE Cities is leading the NCE research programme on cities. Other key institutions involved in the cities programme include the World Resources Institute (US), the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (India), Stockholm Environment Institute (Sweden) and Tsinghua University (China). The cities research programme for NCE is being led by Graham Floater and supported by Philipp Rode.
The cities workstream aims to assemble the evidence base on the economic opportunities, risks and barriers to cities in taking climate action. This will be used to shape the findings and recommendations of the Global Commission.
The research programme is designed to be grounded in the priorities of economic decision makers. It therefore focuses on how cities can achieve core economic objectives in the context of increased climate risk.
The project’s starting point is therefore to engage directly with the goals and perspectives of key decision-makers: finance and economic ministries at the national level, city mayors and those who take major investment decisions in and around cities. The research will seek to take a rigorously objective and evidence-based approach, independently assessing the evidence from all sides of the debate.
Read a detailed introduction to the cities workstream.
To support the development of the Commission’s findings and recommendations, the project is launching a Call for Evidence process. We are inviting contributions from cities, research institutes, think tanks, business organisations, consultancies, academics and civil society organisations. For further details, see the New Climate Economy website.
Read the full call for evidence.
The deadline for submissions is 4 April 2014.
6 February 2014
Theatrum Mundi, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects, New York, has launched a “Designing for Free Speech” challenge. The challenge asks architects, designers, activists, artists — and anyone interested in imagining new spaces in the city for free expression — to identify public spaces in New York City and propose re-designs that transform them into places that activate the rights enshrined in the First Amendment.
Applicants will propose architectural or performative designs (temporary or permanent) that transform spaces in New York City into places for public “demonstration.” This challenge is about re-imagining and idealizing existing spaces that have the potential for animating the public, especially spaces that are not traditionally considered in this frame.
For more information please visit the project website: www.designingforfreespeech.org
5 February 2014
LSE Cities is leading the New Climate Economy research programme on cities. Other key institutions involved in the cities programme include the World Resources Institute (US), the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (India), Stockholm Environment Institute (Sweden) and Tsinghua University (China). The research programme is being led by Graham Floater, Economics of Green Cities Director at the LSE and supported by Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities.
To support the development of the Commission’s findings and recommendations, the project is launching a Call for Evidence process. The project is now inviting contributions from cities, research institutes, think tanks, business organisations, consultancies, academics and civil society organisations. For further details, go to the New Climate Economy website.
The deadline for submissions is 4 April 2014.