Barcelona Summer School in Global Politics, Development and Security

• 6 hour course by Mariona Tomàs (Universitat de Barcelona)

• June 19 
  (10.00 am - 1.00 pm / 2.30 - 5.30 pm)

 

The world is becoming progressively urbanized. Related is the accelerated expansion of metropolitan regions (regions consisting of a densely populated urban core and less-populated surrounding territories with multiple jurisdictions), as an increasingly visible phenomenon in the 21st century. 41% of the total urban population currently live in metropolitan areas of more than 1 million inhabitants. 

Basing their fast development on sustainability goals and fighting climate change are probably the biggest challenges for metropolitan areas.

While environmental degradation, impacts of climate change, pollution, social disaggregation and similar impact on large settlements of any type, metropolitan areas have particular challenges as well as opportunities for finding solutions due to their broader territories and complex governance systems.

Integrated approaches are from special importance:  Cyclic resource flows, mitigation of emissions, adaptation to climate change, generation and use of clean and renewable energy, sustainable mobility systems, development of green and blue space with their eco-system services in mind, coastal management, and similar, characterize opportunities for coordinated and horizontally and vertically integrated policies and actions.

Managing such areas in a responsible way requires sophisticated governance systems, which allow to balance local perspectives with those of a larger area. 

How metropolitan areas can unfold their potentials for accelerating sustainable development will be in the center of this course, with a focus on climate change.