1: CITIES & CLIMATE CHANGE (+ human rights for mountains, + foreign aid cuts and more)

On this month's Urban Radar, Beth & Tom zoom in on:

• Why recognising the rights of a New Zealand mountain is an urban issue 
• Conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and its impacts on the city of Goma
• How cutting US international development funding will impact cities 
• Whether ‘more-than-schools’ can offer community level responses to the crisis in young people and children’s mental health
• Waste tipping in Litchfield, UK

And in our Special Feature (24:20) on Cities and Climate Change, they are joined by Vanesa Castán Broto and David Dodman, two external authors of the UN-Habitat World Cities Report to discuss:

What role do cities and local governments have in addressing climate change?Which communities are impacted most by climate change? What is a just transition? How do formal and informal systems at local, national and international levels support or hinder low carbon action? 

Guests:

Vanesa Castán Broto is Professor of Climate Urbanism at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the governance of global environmental change in an age of urbanization. She leads the JustGESI project which aims to advance equality and inclusion in community energy projects and policy frameworks, by addressing the skills gaps that have historically kept women and marginalised groups out of the clean energy economy.

David Dodman is the General Director at The Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, a key global institution on education, research and policy work on urban development since its foundation 65 years ago. He has worked on sustainable urban development research in universities and research institutes for the past 20 years. His research interests focus on urban climate change resilience and informality.

Guest editor:

Linda Westman is a Senior Research Fellow at the Urban Institute. Her research revolves around environmental politics, with a focus on urban climate governance, transformations, and justice. She leads a European Research Council project on just transitions in the context of environmental politics in China.

Hosts:

Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 

Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)

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Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.