Greater Than Parts: A Metropolitan Opportunity
Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) Global Online Series 2021
Details: Wednesday, 14 June 2021 | 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) | Online
Register here | Download the report here
The event will launch the report Greater Than Parts: A Metropolitan Opportunity and share how developing and emerging economies are successfully utilizing integrated approaches extending well beyond city boundaries to deliver greater sustainability. An overview of the report’s nine diverse metropolitan case studies will be provided, along with a selection of their urban innovations focusing on horizontal integration—across multiple infrastructure sectors and systems. The event will discuss the report’s key analyses, derived models, its principles and guiding questions to provoke and inspire action by cities.
Cities are the source of over 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, while also being the engines of the global economy, concentrating more than half the world’s population. Earth is on a trajectory of warming more than 1.5°C unless important decarbonizing steps are taken. Often policymakers prescribe integration as the solution to steering urbanization towards decarbonization to achieve greater global and local environmental benefits. The report launch event will share some of the struggles—and successes—that cities in developing countries are having in planning, financing, and implementing integrated urban solutions.
Greater Than Parts was led by the World Bank’s Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC), with contributions from the World Resources Institute (WRI), and supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the case study of Dammam. This session aims to provide a diverse and inspiring overview of urban integrated approaches with shared knowledge and lessons learned that will benefit policymakers and practitioners.
Chair
- Xueman Wang, Senior Urban Specialist and GPSC Coordinator, World Bank
Opening Remarks
- Sameh Wahba, Global Director, Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land, World Bank
Global Overview Presentation and Cases Discussion
- Shagun Mehrotra, Senior Advisor, WRI
- Myriam Ababsa, Social Geographer, Ifpo (French Institute of the Near East). Case Study: Amman, Jordan.
- Beatriz Cardenas, Air Quality Director, WRI Mexico. Case Study: Mexico City, Mexico.
- Wiwandari Handayani, Associate Professor, Diponegoro University. Case Study: Semarang, Indonesia.
Discussant
- Joanna Masic, Global Lead for Sustainable City Infrastructure and Lead Urban Specialist, World Bank
Closing Remarks
- Ani Dasgupta, Global Director, Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, WRI
Read more about the speaker bios here: https://www.thegpsc.org/events/gpsc-global-online-series-2021-greater-parts-metropolitan-opportunity