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Conference
Climate Change at the Crossroads
Rome, Italy February 4-5, 2008
In Feburary 2008, Columbia University’s Urban Design Lab launched the first phase of its Urban Securities Project with “Climate Change at the Crossroads,” a working forum held in Rome. Participants came from across North America and Europe, and included engineers, anthropologists, business and media studies experts, philosophers, political scientists, urban designers and climate scientists. The discussion centered on creative, interdisciplinary and investigative approaches to the challenges of climate change in urban areas. Urban areas are a key focus because they are particularly vulnerable to climate change; they are simultaneously principal actors in delivering reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The forum examined the roles of both the public and private sectors, as well as community participation were explored in an open debate in which the participatory strategies of an urban design approach provided a platform for the discussion of issues such as:
- the question of shifting ground on climate science relative to urban strategies
- the identification and implementation of effective action plans that take under consideration intersecting temporal, spatial and organizational scales
- the identification and assessment of models for mitigating and adapting to climate change in complex environments
- the local community partnership as an integral component of adaptation.
The Forum was was sponsored as a collaboration of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), the Fondazione Adriano Olivetti and the Camera di Commercio Ambiente eTettitorio of Rome. The Urban Securities Project is a collaborative project of a group of international researchers coming from different disciplines. Its aim is to investigate ways in which urban areas are responding to challenges of growth and globalization. Through a series of multidisciplinary forums and publications, Urban Securities will outline practical solutions at the policy and community levels.