Mark Pelling, Professor of Geography at King’s College London, will be the speaker at this event.

Abstract

Large and megacities are crucibles of hazard, vulnerability and capacity. Dynamic social, economic and physical systems interact with administrative and institutional structures. Discontinuities in the pace of change reveal governance challenges for such large social-ecological-technological units. Heatwave for example is increasingly identified as a priority by residents and technical staff but not codified in risk management and human resources. The paper offers initial, integrative results from a programme of interdisciplinary work across Kolkata, Lagos, London, New York and Tokyo focused on surfacing risk and the capacity for governance systems to transition from existing to futures oriented management structures. Results suggest that while richer cities are more adapt at coping and adapting to present and near future risks, none are well oriented to the social root causes of risk nor able to embrace emergent risks and risk management solutions. Work was funded by NERC/ESRC under a Belmont Forum programme: Transformation and Resilience on urban Costs.

This seminar is open to all LSE staff and students. If you are from outside the LSE and would like to attend, please email Gri.Events@lse.ac.uk to register for a place.

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