Conference
UCCRN: International Symposium
May 10-11, 2007
Columbia University, new York City
Overview
Columbia University’s Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities co-hosted the first Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) International Symposium on May 10-11, 2007. This symposium was organized as an informal side-event to the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, an invitation-only event targeting mayors and key business leaders from large cities around the world. The UCCRN symposium brought together leading researchers from more than twenty-five cities to share information about local climate change impacts and launch a global network which will act as a hub for knowledge sharing and relationship-building among researchers, research institutions, and policy-makers.
During the two-day UCCRN symposium, more than 150 international and local experts gathered at Columbia University in New York City to define problems and analyze and debate local climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Distinguished panel speakers addressed issues such as climate risk management, the importance of local energy policy to climate change mitigation efforts, the role of modeling in local policy-making, infrastructure risks in coastal cities, transport system and land-use planning, urban heat island effects and public health, and integrating climate and energy science into urban policy. The goals and objectives of the research network were refined through the panel discussions and informal conversations between the speakers and other attendees.
The Urban Climate Change Research Network was formaly launched at the end of the symposium. The Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy at Columbia University accepted the role of the secretariat for two years. During the session, symposium co-organizer Cynthia Rosenzweig announced the members of the steering committee. Rosenzweig proposed the formation of an International Panel for Climate Change in Cities (IPC3) that would function like the IPCC but with a focus on local-level impacts and policy efforts. The creation of working groups among network members was also discussed. The ultimate goal of UCCRN is to develop a horizontal network where researchers could share their work, make connections with their fellow researchers locally and globally, and develop international research projects to facilitate action against the multidimensional problems of climate change.