Monthly Archives: April 2017

Alexandra Gomes contributes to planning and environmental management seminar at the University of Manchester

27 April 2017

LSE Cities Research Officer Alexandra Gomes contributed yesterday to a Planning and Environmental Management seminar at the University of Manchester. Her presentation, titled Analysing Cities at Different Scales: Methods, Challenges and Opportunities, focused on her work across various research projects at LSE Cities, including Governing Urban Futures (2014), Resource Urbanisms (2015-ongoing), and Towards Urban Growth Analytics for Yangon (2016).

Submissions and registration open for RAMSES Cities and Climate Conference

26 April 2017

The 2017 Cities and Climate Conference will take place from September 19-21 in Potsdam, Germany. The conference, the last in a series relating to the RAMSES (Reconciling Adaptation, Mitigation and Sustainable Development for cities) project, will explore the latest advances in research and practice addressing climate change in cities, including issues of infrastructure, planning, governance, economics of adaptation, risk management, and their possible trade-offs and synergies with mitigation and sustainability objectives.

Abstract submissions and registration are now open, while further information on the conference is available online.

Quito Papers film review published by Metropolis Magazine

18 April 2017

Metropolis Magazine has today published a review of the film, The Quito Papers: Towards an Open Citydirected by Dom Bagnato and Cassim Shepard. The film addresses the “The Quito Papers”, a research collaboration between Theatrum Mundi, NYU and UN-Habitat, developed in the run-up to the United Nations Habitat III conference held in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016. The review discusses both the film itself and the wider context of the Habitat III conference, where the Quito Papers were presented by Ricky Burdett, Saskia Sassen, Richard Sennett, and Joan Clos during the Urban Talk Designing the Urban Age.

Nuno Ferreira da Cruz contributes to Expert Group on the New Urban Agenda in New York

10 April 2017

LSE Cities Research Fellow Nuno Ferreira da Cruz recently attended the Post-Habitat III Cross-Cutting Expert Group Meeting on UN-Habitat’s Action Framework for the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda in New York. The three day meeting (April 5-7) aimed to provide feedback into and refine the framework, suggest indicators, and provide concrete examples in five key areas: national urban policies; urban legislation, rules and regulations; integrated urban and territorial planning and design; financing urbanisation; and local implementation.

Cities Programme and Urbanisation students win grant from the Royal Geographical Society

6 April 2017

Ravi Anand Loknath and Larissa Miranda-Heinisch of the MSc in City Design and Social Science, along with Vaishnavi Shankar of the MSc in Urbanisation and Development, have been awarded a Geographical Fieldwork Grant by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). The Fieldwork Grant, which is the Society’s longest running grant scheme, offers support for UK-led research teams carrying out geographical field research overseas. The grant, worth up to £3000, is given to small research teams making a significant contribution to geographical knowledge.

Collectively, Ravi Anand, Larissa and Vaishnavi put forward a proposal on “Interpreting Informal Human Geographies”, a detailed documentation and research of an informal settlement in São Paulo, Brazil. The proposal is the culmination of their independent projects at the London School of Economics: Larissa’s on the open communal spaces that define the informal community; Vaishnavi’s on how the community is building resilience frameworks to address the threat of climate change; and Ravi Anand’s on the informal commerce systems and micro-economies that sustain the community.

Julia King and Adam Kaasa to speak in symposium at the Tate Modern

5 April 2017

In tomorrow’s Tate Modern symposium on The art of being civic with public works, LSE Cities Research Officer Julia King and Theatrum Mundi Director Adam Kaasa will contribute to a panel on “Civic and the City.” Julia will deliver a presentation titled “Infrastructure as a (civic) property and not a thing”, while Adam will present on “Designing Politics? Decolonising an urban ideas challenge.” More information on the symposium is available here.

Ricky Burdett pays tribute to Zaha Hadid in new film

3 April 2017

LSE Cities and Urban Age Director Ricky Burdett has paid tribute to the late Pritzker Prize winning architect, Zaha Hadid, one year after her death. In a video produced by the Architects’ Journal, Zaha Hadid: An Architectural Legacy, Professor Burdett features among several other urbanists and architects in reflecting on Hadid’s legacy and career. The video is available here.