Future of Cities

Organized in cooperation with the World Watch Institute, UN-HABITAT and the Government of Canada.

This discussion will draw upon a panel of well-known urban experts who will make short presentations on where cities are today and what they will look like in the future. The discussion will begin with highlights from the State of the World’s Cities Report 2006/7. The panelists will be asked to give their impressions on what they see as the major trends and challenges facing cities in the 21st century.

Facilitator:

• Ben Malor, UN Radio

Speakers:

• Inga Björk-Klevby, Assistant Secretary General, United Nations; Deputy Executive Director, UN-HABITAT
• John Friedmann, Honorary Professor in Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Janice Perlman, Executive Director, Megacities Project, USA
• Xuemei Bai, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan
• Kalpana Sharma, Mumbai Bureau Chief, The Hindu, India
• David Satterthwaite, Senior Fellow, Human Settlements, International Institute for Environment and Development, United Kingdom
• Clive Harridge, President, Town Planning Institute, United Kingdom