Penn: Current Research on Sustainable Urban Development

“Penn: Current Research on Sustainable Urban Development” is a collection of eleven research papers on key urban topics, authored by faculty, associated researchers and fellows from three centers at Penn: the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR), the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy (KCEP), and Perry World House (PWH). The papers were prepared as part of Penn’s effort to bring its urban expertise to this year’s World Urban Forum (WUF9), the world’s premier conference on urban issues, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from February 7-13, 2018. 

In addition to publishing this white paper series in advance of the February event, the three centers worked together to stage a multidisciplinary exhibition of Penn research at the week-long event, and sent a delegation of 14 scholars, students, and staff members to Kuala Lumpur to participate. By joining forces to present at this year’s WUF9, the centers brought timely Penn-based scholarship that addresses pressing sustainable urbanization issues to leading policymakers and practitioners across the globe. 

Paper Series: Penn: Current Research on Sustainable Urban Development

Introduction to Penn’s Current Research in Sustainable Urban Development: From Global to Local
Eugenie Birch, Penn Institute for Urban Research; William Burke-White, Perry World House; and Mark Alan Hughes, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy; with Cara Griffin, Penn Institute for Urban Research

More than Window Dressing? Stakeholders and Partnerships in UN Global Agreements on Sustainable Urban Development: An Exploration of Arrangements to Move toward Pluralistic Global Governance
Eugenie Birch, Penn Institute for Urban Research

The Changing Landscape of Climate Governance: The Role of Cities as Political Actors and Policy Implementers 
William Burke-White, Perry World House and Laura Barron, Penn Institute for Urban Research

Climate Justice and Right to the City
Daniel Aldana Cohen, School of Arts & Sciences

Putting Energy into Implementation: Challenges to Subnational Participation in SDG 7
Mark Alan Hughes and Cornelia Colijn, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Achieving a Win-Win: Tweaking the U.S. Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program to Maximize Immigrants’ Potential and Improve Immigrant Quality
Onoso Imoagene, School of Arts & Sciences

The United Nations: Local Authorities in Four Frameworks
Ian Klaus, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Russell Singer, United States Military Academy

Consurbanism: Sustainable Urban Development as if Culture and the Inherited Environment Really Mattered
Randall Mason, Penn School of Design

Spaces of Collective Representation: Urban Growth, Democracy, and Political Inclusion
Lisa Mitchell, School of Arts & Sciences

A Case for Strengthening Evidence-Based Understanding of Refugee Integration
Anne Richard and Katelyn Leader, Perry World House

The Ecological Wisdom of Plan-Making
Frederick Steiner, Penn School of Design

Hotspot Cities: Identifying Peri-Urban Conflict Zones in the World’s Biodiversity Hotspots
Richard Weller, Chieh Huang, Zuzanna Drozdz, Nanxi Dong, Penn School of Design, and Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard, University of New South Wales