Cities and the New Climate Economy

Infrastructure, Innovation and the Spatial Fix

Workshop hosted by LSE Cities

LSE Cities convened a session on “Cities and the New Climate Economy: Infrastructure, Innovation and the Spatial Fix” at the World Urban Forum (WUF7) in Medellin, Colombia on 10 April 2014. Attended by a diverse group of urban practitioners, researchers and policy makers, the session was structured around ongoing work for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate and the cities workstream of the Commission’s New Climate Economy (NCE) project which LSE Cities is leading.

The overall aim of NCE is 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. It has been repeatedly argued that cities have a unique opportunity to build a different model of economic growth – one which achieves the benefits of growth but with significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions alongside co-benefits such as improved health. And it is commonly understood that this will require a focus on actions that are systematically important for how cities function including decisions around urban form, transport and innovation policy.

This interactive session chaired by Edgar Pieterse, Director of the African Centre for Cities at Cape Town University brought together insights and perspectives that are currently emerging through urban research and practice in relation to the current debate around cities in a New Climate Economy. It included presentations by LSE Cities Executive Director, Philipp Rode on the current NCE Cities research, Eduarda La Rocque, President of Instituto Pereira Passos, on an emerging green and inclusive economy in Rio de Janeiro and Luis Fernando Ulloa, Sustainability Director at Financiera del Desarrollo on Colombia’s Sustainable Cities Programme.

Profiles

    Luis Fernando Ulloa

    Sustainability Director at Financiera del Desarrollo on Colombia’s Sustainable Cities Programme

    Eduarda La Rocque

    Eduarda La Rocque is a partner at Usina Pensamento and holds a PhD in Economics from PUC-Rio, Brazil. She is internationally renowned for her innovative administration as Rio de Janeiro’s Municipal Secretary of Finance (2009–12), as well as having served as president of Pereira Passos Municipal Institute (IPP; 2012–15). La Rocque was previously a partner at BBM Bank, president of the Brazilian Bank Federation’s Risk Control Commission (FEBRABAN) and president of the Corporate Risk Control board at the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC). At IPP she focused on public–private partnerships to promote transparency, urbanchange and social inclusion and won two international prizes – from UN-Habitat and IFC/Cities Alliance – for the UPP Social programme of urban economic and social development in Rio slums.

     

     

    Philipp Rode

    Philipp Rode is Executive Director of LSE Cities and Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. As researcher, consultant and advisor he has been directing interdisciplinary projects comprising urban governance, transport, city planning and urban design at the LSE since 2003. The focus of his current work is on institutional structures and governance capacities of cities, and on sustainable urban development, transport and mobility. Rode is co-directing the cities workstream of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate and has co-led the United Nations Habitat III Policy Unit on Urban Governance. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).

    Edgar Pieterse

    Director, Centre for Cities in Africa, University of Cape Town.