On October 27, 2017, TUT-POL Director Diane Davis led a panel discussion among design, planning, technology, and economic experts about the Future of Cities during Harvard’s Worldwide Week.
Panelists included:
- Diane Davis, Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design
- John Fernandez, Professor, MIT; Urban Metabolism Group, African Urban Metabolism Network
- Christian Irmisch, Principal, Siemens AG, Mobility Division
- Stefan Knupfer, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Leader, Sustainability Resource Productivity Practice
- Efosa Ojomo, Research Fellow, Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation
- Harriet Tregoning, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Planning and Development, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The discussion explored:
What will the city of the future look like? How will contemporary urbanization challenges establish the groundwork for the next generation of innovations? Who will spearhead the investments and institutional arrangements needed to address such issues as sprawl, climate change, socio-spatial inequality, and rapid technological change?
Drawing on experience from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the U.S., panelists shared their views on how best to address the fact that more than 70% of the world’s population is projected to be living in cities by the year 2050 (with close to 90% of the increase coming from Asia and Africa). Debate revolved around the impacts of intensified urban growth on the basic political, economic, and social arrangements that have come to define cities, as well as on the role of new technologies and infrastructures in modifying urban footprints and quality of life.
Read more about event here.