Networking Sessions at the 11th Session of the World Urban Forum

The Penn Institute for Urban Research and Perry World House hosted two networking sessions on June 27 and June 28 at the World Urban Forum (WUF), which was held from June 17 – July 1 in Katowice, Poland and organized by UN-Habitat. The World Urban Forum is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanization. The 2022 theme was “Transforming our Cities for a Better Urban Future,” and was meant to provide greater insights and clarity on the future of cities based on existing trends, challenges and opportunities, as well as suggest ways cities can be better prepared to address future pandemics and a wide range of other shocks.

Penn IUR and PWH contributed to WUF discourse through the organization of two networking sessions, which build on former programming, including the Global Powers and Urbanization Program (GPUP), a workshop on Financing Urban Adaptation to Address Climate Change, and a roundtable discussion on ‘Rebuilding Trust through subnational Engagement.’

The first session on Monday, June 27, discussed how cities can elevate their role in international decision making. The session featured the participation of Peter Kurz, Lord Mayor of Mannheim, Germany; Mauricio Rodas, former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador and Perry World House Visiting Fellow; and Ian Claus Director of Research and Policy for the Global Parliament of Mayors. The session was moderated by Dr. Genie Birch who heads the University of Pennsylvania’s Urban Research Institute. To address the topic, participants debated how cities could leverage networks and other collaboration to improve representation of their interests and access to finance on the global stage. They emphasized the importance of the recognizing cities impact and influence on the achievement of global agendas, especially since cities house over 50% of the world’s population; serve as frontline actors in the fight against climate change; and drive real-time and innovative solutions to global challenges like the pandemic.

The second session was on Tuesday, June 28, and was focused on how cities can increase the flow of resources, especially private sector finance, to support adaptation to climate change in urban spaces. The session built out and advanced ideas from a February 2022 workshop and the resulting brief, “Five Steps for Financing Urban Adaptation.”

Held in the format of a roundtable conversation, the WUF networking event featured the participation of Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director and Senior Vice President of the Adrienne Arsht–Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council; Tadashi Matsumoto, Head of Unit, Sustainable Development and Global Relations, OECD; Kevin Nelson, Urban Team Lead in the Office of Land and Urban, USAID; Calvin Johnson, Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary For Research, Evaluation, And Monitoring (ODAS/REM) HUS, USER; Priscilla Negreiros, Manager Cities Climate Finance Alliance at Climate Policy Initiative, manages the (the CCFLA); Alice Charles Lead, Urban Transformation, World Economic Forum; Konstantina Karydi Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) is an Initiative of the European Commission (Greece); Augustin Maria Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank (Morocco); Garima Prasai Director, Strategies and Operations, Resilient Cities Catalyst; Jeb Brugmann, Founding Principal, Resilient Cities Catalyst; and Mauricio Rodas, former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador and Penn IUR and Perry World House Visiting Fellow. The session was moderated by Dr. Genie Birch of Penn IUR. Participants discussed innovative approaches to increasing financial flows for to support urban adaptation to climate change. They highlighted challenges and solutions to making such projects attractive and open to private investment flows.