Think Big Forum - 2050 City Megagrowth: Assessing and Addressing the Impacts

The speed and scale of global urbanization bring challenges, such as meeting accelerated demand for affordable housing, viable infrastructure including transport systems, basic services, and jobs, particularly for urban poor who live in informal settlements to be near opportunities.

Once a city is built, its physical form and land use patterns can be locked in for generations, therefore Impact Assessment Planning becomes more and more important.

That is why the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), in collaboration with Cities Alliance, has organised a series of presentations supporting efforts to address looming environmental and social impacts affecting the world’s cities to 2050 and beyond.

Think Big virtual forum, 2050 City Megagrowth will be presented in multiple recorded panels. The first two are already available on this page. The forum will culminate with a live Q&A session on March 27. Additional presentations will be released in July.

Think Big Panel 1

Addressing 2050 Megagrowth through Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment

Recording available here

Speakers

• Peter Nelson, Planning Green Futures
• Weston Fisher, Co-chair of IAIA’s Climate Change Section
• Peter Nelson, Planning Green Futures

Think Big Panel 2

2050 Megagrowth, Informal Settlements, and the Value of SEAs to Address Urban Impacts

African cities are urbanizing fast and informally and are vulnerable to climate change. There is a need to invest in resilient infrastructure.

Julian Baskin, Principal Urban Advisor, Cities Alliance

Investments must eliminate backlogs and enable future households to settle in the right places. Local governments are not in a position to respond. A partnership is needed that includes organizations of the urban poor and different ways of delivering infrastructure leveraging small community contractors.

Speakers:

• Julian Baskin, Cities Alliance Secretariat
• Yaw Amoyaw-Osei, CEHRT Environmental Consulting Ghana
• Bryony Walmsley, Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment

For more information visit IAIA's website.