Photo Credit: Montakan T./USAID

Shaping Solutions to the Challenges of Tomorrow for Asia’s Cities 

Asian cities, particularly coastal cities, are highly vulnerable to climate change and yet Asia houses more than half of the world’s urban population. By 2050, an additional 1.25 billion people will join urban Asia. While Asia hosts 25 out of 40 megacities, the fastest growing urban centers are medium–sized with less than 1 million inhabitants. The U.S. Global Development Lab and USAID's Regional Development Mission for Asia, together with the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and United Nations Global Pulse, are hosting a two-day international workshop in Bangkok, Thailand from October 14 - 15, 2014. The workshop will bring the science and technology sectors together with the development community in a novel way to discuss the rising challenges and opportunities facing Asia as the result of both rapid urbanization and climate change.

Participants will discuss ways to speed up urban adaptation by bridging science-to-action knowledge gaps and catalyze partnerships between city officials, technology innovators, development planners, academic researchers and implementers. Experts from the United States and Asia will present future climate scenarios for Asia’s cities, focusing on impacts on food, water, energy, infrastructure, health and national economies. Progressive city planners and development practitioners will highlight examples of successful actions already being taken, and technology leaders and innovators will present transformative approaches to increase urban adaptation to climate change and to improve urban planning. At the end of the workshop, participants will leave with new partnerships and sound scientific and technological approaches to building urban resilience. A report summarizing the workshop and any next steps derived from it will be shared following the event.

Find out more about the workshop here:

View the agenda [PDF]

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