With almost two-thirds of the global population expected to be living in cities and towns by 2050, the material consumption and ecological footprint of urban spaces could also grow significantly and challenges around justice, equity and governance could be become more complex.  To achieve a low-carbon, resource-efficient, nature-positive and socially just futures for urban areas and infrastructure, it is now widely understood that development paths need to shift onto new trajectories.  To make these transitions, we need to reimagine roles for planning, design and resource-efficient infrastructure, underpinned and enabled through new approaches to governance, enabling and sharing learning from experimentation.  But how can we equip ourselves for the transition?  

Gary Kass, an IES Vice President, has recently joined the Advisory Board for the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation (CSEI) at Imperial College and (among other roles) he is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Surrey.  In his talk, Gary will outline the need for change, and ask what kinds of changes we need – focussing in particular on the suite of capacities and competencies required across society to make progress towards sustainability.  Gary will outline critical capacities such as measuring sustainable development, promoting equity, and linking knowledge with action.  And he will describe key competencies such as systems thinking, anticipation, and values-based approaches.  In the joined-up spirit of CSEI, Gary will outline the linkages and co-dependencies between these and will conclude with some reflections and questions for discussion.

In person attendance – Room 601, 6th floor Skempton Building, Imperial College London

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