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The IARU Sustainable Science Congress to explore whether cities can lead sustainable development

23 September 2014

by Richard Forster

The IARU Sustainable Science Congress Global Challenges: Achieving Sustainability taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark on 22-24 October 2014, will explore the opportunities that urbanisation can bring and challenge the notion that it is an obstacle to sustainability.

The impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity, land cover, climate, resource demand, waste generation and pollution are well documented. However, much research also shows that urbanisation, through the concentration of people, resources, and activities, enables efficient delivery of services, energy and material use, and fosters innovation and creativity.

With urbanisation as one of the central themes, the congress is looking to integrate solutions for sustainable city development, health, food production, energy, economy, social equity, biodiversity and more.

Participants representing science, business and decision-makers from more than 50 countries have already signed up and will come together to explore 15 themes that need urgent attention for sustainable development.

With a total of 140 speakers, multiple aspects of the urbanisation challenge will be presented across the many themes, including:

–       Governing cities for low carbon transitions

–       Urbanisation and air environmental impacts

–       Urban food production systems as sites of transformative learning

–       Understanding disaster risk and resilience for effective policy

–       Benefits and risks of active transport and farming in urban environments

The unique cross-disciplinary setup also offers a stimulating environment to meet and network with experts from other fields.

The political interest in the congress is high with the attendance of the Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who will be addressing attendees at the opening session, the EU Climate Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, the Executive Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Guido Schmidt-Traub and the Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Rasmus Helveg Petersen.

Peter Bakker, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development will join an on-stage dialogue with leading scientists Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Center and Shiyi Chen from the China Center for Economic Studies focusing on solutions for growing societies sustainably.

The congress is organised by the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and will be hosted by the University of Copenhagen.

For more information and to register please visit http://sustainability.ku.dk/iarucongress2014/

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