Urban Planning

Article September 19, 2022 Penn IUR Faculty Fellows’ Summer Research Advances Urban Water Management How to sustainably manage urban water? That question took Penn IUR Faculty Fellows to cities like Pittsburgh, where improving water quality and access are critical issues; to the Netherlands, where 93 percent of the population lives in urban areas and all are at risk of rising seas; and to Malawi, where innovative methods of measuring climate adaptation may one day be applied to cities around the world. Climate Change & Resilience
Jun 27 2022 Past Event Networking Sessions at the 11th Session of the World Urban Forum
Publication May 26, 2022 City Mutable: The United States Census Bureau’s Quest to Define the City, 1850-1930 The idea that the population of the United States first became majority urban in 1920 has been repeated so often that it has become “fact,” uncritically reprinted in high school textbooks, academic works, reports of major research organizations, popular urbanist nonfiction, and more. However, this widely accepted “fact” warrants a reevaluation. What does the word urban mean and who defined it? Urban Development
Article May 26, 2022 Aging in Place or Stuck in Place? Transportation Planning for Older Americans in the Digital Era Decades-long transportation policies favoring vehicle owners have actually disadvantaged many older adults in their daily travel. To date, studies and policies specifically addressing older adults’ travel needs have not kept pace with the increasing number and diversity of the aging population. My research addresses these gaps by examining the interaction of the built environment, travel behavior, and technology usage among older adults in the United States. Shengxiao (Alex) Li Urban Development
Publication May 26, 2022 Rethinking the Heavy Hand of Flood Prevention in Informal Settlements: An Investigation of Retreat-Related Practices in the Philippines Researchers and decision-makers increasingly favor managed retreat as an adaptation to address urban floods exacerbated by climate impacts. In the informal settlements of the Global South, national governments, development banks, and other knowledge brokers choose relocation over slum upgrading in their retreat-related activities. They disproportionately relocate informal settlers—who lack legal land tenure— despite the fact that the risk profiles of many places is similar to those that the UN and other global bodies recommend in-situ climate-sensitive upgrade projects. Climate Change & Resilience Urban Development
Apr 15 2022 Past Event Third Annual Wharton Future of Cities Conference Urban Development
Article February 22, 2022 Forthcoming Books in the City in the 21st Century Series The City in the 21st Century series is looking forward to adding its 50th book. We are proud of this achievement and looking forward to what’s next. Read on for a preview of what’s to come in this cross-disciplinary series edited by Penn IUR Co-Directors Eugénie Birch and Susan Wachter and published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Urban Development
Affiliated PhD Student Jay Arzu
Doctoral Candidate, City and Regional Planning, Weitzman School of Design
Urban Development
b&w headshot of Inga Saffron
Fellow Inga Saffron
Architecture Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Urban Development
Nov 17 2021 Past Event Colossus: The Anatomy of Delhi Urban Development
Oct 21 2021 Past Event Governing Locally: Institutions, Policies, and Implementation in Indian Cities Urban Development
Oct 21 2021 Past Event Special Briefing on the Biden Infrastructure Plan: Unmet Needs and State of Play
Research Paper October 20, 2021 The COVID-19 Recession: Which Urban Economies Have Performed Better or Worse and Why John Landis State & Local Finance
Sep 30 2021 Past Event Residential Segregation in an Urbanizing India Urban Development
Article September 23, 2021 Meet the Fourth Cohort of Fellows in Urban Leadership Penn IUR welcomes its fourth cohort into the Fellows in Urban Leadership program, which provides a select group of undergraduates the opportunity to engage with established urban leaders. Anchor Institutions
Article September 23, 2021 Urban Informality Research Insights A seminar series highlighting research on urban informality offers academics and practitioners an opportunity to exchange knowledge and together delve into topics such as informality in settlements, services, livelihoods, water supply and waste, and transportation. Urban Development
Article August 19, 2021 Urban Innovation Essential to Achieve SDGs A new report suggests ways to support and accelerate the city-level innovation needed to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Climate Change & Resilience Urban Development
Research Paper July 13, 2021 5th Guangzhou Award Report on Local Implementation of SDGs Climate Change & Resilience Housing + 1
Research Paper June 16, 2021 September 2020 U20 Summit White Papers and Reports Penn IUR, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and Perry World House serve as knowledge partners for the U20 Engagement Group to the G20. For the U20 Summit (September 2020), they produced the white papers and reports that fed into the U20 Communique delivered to the G20. Mark Alan Hughes Eugénie L. Birch Mauricio Rodas Climate Change & Resilience State & Local Finance
Article May 19, 2021 Penn IUR Faculty Fellow Spotlight: Ken Steif Penn IUR interviews Ken Steif, Program Director, Penn MUSA and Associate Professor of Practice, Department of City and Regional Planning, as part of its semi-annual spotlight on Penn IUR Faculty Fellows. Urban Development

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