Resilience Reset: Creating Resilient Cities in the Global South with Dr Aditya Bahadur, Principal researcher, Human Settlements, International Institute for Environment and Development discussing Resilient Cities in the Global South kicks off the series for the academic year.
The Human Geography and Environmental Social Science Seminar Series at the University of Kent is coming back with its second series in the Autumn term, 2021. The seminars provide a forum for presentation and discussion of timely and innovative topics in Human Geography and Environmental Social Science research and practice. The seminars are co-organised by the Kent Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies (KISS) and includes speakers from Geography, Environment and related disciplines.For the first talk of the second series, we are excited to host Dr Aditya Bahadur, Principal researcher, Human Settlements, International Institute for Environment and Development for his talk, Resilience Reset: Creating Resilient Cities in the Global South.
Drawing on evidence from urban resilience initiatives around the globe, this talk will make a compelling argument for a “resilience reset”, a pause and stocktake that critically examines the concepts, practices and challenges of building resilience, particularly in cities of the Global South. In turn, the speaker will call for the world’s cities to alter their course and “pivot” towards novel approaches to enhancing resilience. The talk presents shifts in ways of acquiring and analysing data, building community resilience, approaching urban planning, engaging with informality, delivering financing, and building the skills of those running cities in a post-COVID world grappling with climate impacts. The arguments presented will encourage researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to break out of existing modes of thinking and doing that may no longer be relevant for our rapidly urbanising and dynamic world.
Dr. Aditya Bahadur is a Principal Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK. Previously he served as a Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute and prior to that, with Oxford Policy Management. He has 15 years of experience in research, evaluation and practice of DRR, climate change, urbanisation and development. He has published widely on these topics including in highly regarded academic journals. His work has been cited by the IPCC and has informed the UK Government’s approach to disaster resilience. He served as the Research Coordinator of the BRACED Programme (one of the world’s largest community level resilience building initiatives, running in 9 countries). He completed his MA and PhD in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK. He completed his Postdoctoral Research as Fulbright Fellow at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York where he wrote a book on urbanisation and resilience.
The seminar will be online and will take place on Monday, the 6th December 2021: 18:00h-19:00h. Click here to join the meeting. All are welcome to attend.
Please contact Dr Anika Haque, with any queries.