LSE Cities Executive Director Philipp Rode presented yesterday at Habitat 3’s dialogue on urban services and technology. His presentation evaluated the role of technology in shaping urban mobility trends, observing how unlike many urban services urban transport is governed multi-laterally. He also provided the introductory address for the urban dialogue on governance and capacity-building on October 18.

On October 19, Habitat 3 hosted the urban talk “Designing the Urban Age”, featuring Ricky Burdett, Richard Sennett, Saskia Sassen and Joan Clos. The event included the presentation of key themes concerning the ‘Quito Papers’, a set of ideas aimed at opening, recapturing and designing cities for the New Urban Agenda. While Richard Sennett outlined the principles of the ‘Open City’ and Saskia Sassen discussed the impact of global capital markets on urban land, Ricky Burdett presented on the need for adaptable and flexible urban design in the 21st century. The full video of the event is available here.

On October 18, the Co-Leads of the Habitat III Policy Unit 4, LSE Cities and UCLG, hosted a three hour session consisting of two panel discussions in Quito, Ecuador. The panels discussed the implications of the New Urban Agenda for different aspects of urban governance in the context of the Habitat III conference and the policy paper developed by Policy Unit 4. The session, chaired by Emilia Saiz of UCLG, acted as an inaugural forum interpreting the high-level governance ambitions of the NUA for different contexts, spheres of governments, private and third sector organisations and actors. Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities, presented an overview of Policy Unit 4 and its relationship to the New Urban Agenda.

The first panel included Mónica Fein, Mayor of Rosario (Argentina); Parks Tau, President of South African Local Governments Association; Ian Klaus, US Department of State; Ilmar Reepalu, Councilor of Malmö (Sweden); Dieudonne Maurice Bonanet, Minister of Urbanization and Habitat, Burkina Faso.

The second included Mercè Conesa, President of the Province of Barcelona (Spain); Denis Simonneau,Director of European and International Relations, ENGIE (previously GDF-SUEZ); Sandra Vermuyten, Head of Campaigns Public Sector International (PSI); Joanna Drake, Deputy Director General – DG Environment, European Commission; and Soledad Núñez, Minister of Housing and Habitat, Paraguay.

In the first episode of Migration Matters’ “Six Impossible Ideas (After Brexit)“, Suzanne Hall discussed her research on super-diverse streets and its relevance following Britain’s EU referendum in June. In a series of videos on Rye Lane in Peckham, London – where proprietors from more than 20 countries run their businesses – Dr. Hall highlighted the role of migrants in shaping urban economies and high streets.

Linking Britain’s current political environment to the daily experience of the street, the episode discusses the wider context of diversity and how it shapes the economy and society. You can watch the full episode here.

Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities, spoke [video] at #BogotaEsLaCumbre on the risk of low-density sprawl in Bogotá. Bogotá, which is a higher density city in the Latin American context,  is still less dense than many of LSE Cities’ Asian case study cities. Considering wealth and density, the city already has a relatively high rate of motorisation, reducing opportunity for the model of compact, connected and coordinated urban growth. Rode said that urban expansion is pushing towards the administrative boundary of the city and unstructured, low-density sprawl is a real risk within the wider metropolitan region. Rode spoke alongside Enrique Peñalosa (Mayor of Bogotá) and Joan Clos (Executive Director, UN-Habitat).

Philipp Rode , Executive Director of LSE Cities, will talk today alongside Enrique Peñalosa (Mayor of Bogotá) and Joan Clos (Executive Director, UN-Habitat) in Bogotá  on the 2050 Bogotá Planning: Vision and Model Town. Later in the day he’ll also share the results of The Urban Governance Survey at the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders.  The survey is an initiative by LSE Cities, UN-Habitat and the UCLG Committee on Decentralization and Local-Self Government and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Philipp Rode, Executive Director of LSE Cities, will talk on sustainable cities at the LSE Alumni Colombia – Visionary Cities Forum on 11 October from 6-8pm in Bogotá. Spaces are limited. Please email lsealumnicolombia@gmail.com to RSVP and reserve your place.

Theatrum Mundi’s Designing Respect exhibition has opened today in Rio de Janeiro, in collaboration with People’s Palace Projects and Museum of Tomorrow.

From July to September, TM opened a call to artists, planners, activists, and citizens of all kinds to identify settings for disrespect in the Olympic capital and design plans for an architectural, urban, performative or organisational intervention.

11 winning projects were chosen by peer vote and are being highlighted at the exhibition RESPECT at the Museum of Tomorrow/Museu do Amanhã from October 4-23. They were all championed by the official jury for their demonstration of key struggles in the 21st century city: racial segregation, class violence, gendered space, unequal mobility, profound neoliberal urban restructuring, displacement, territorial stigmatisation, and the question of who counts as history.

For more details, visit www.designingpolitics.org/designing-respect