For immediate release
Contact: Anthony Flint 617-503-2116
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 5, 2010) – Bringing expertise and experience in land use, climate change, and informal settlement, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy will participate in the World Urban Forum 5 in Rio de Janeiro March 22-26.
The World Urban Forum is a biennial event organized by UN-HABITAT to focus on rapid urbanization worldwide, and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policy. The theme is “The Right to the City-Bridging the Urban Divide,” based on UN-HABITAT's flagship report, State of the World's Cities 2010-2011, which will be launched at the forum.
At this major conference, the Lincoln Institute’s delegation will be led by Martim O. Smolka, senior fellow and co-chair, Department of International Studies, and director of the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean. Activities will include training and networking events and an exhibit (E10) featuring a wide array of publications, where visitors will be welcomed throughout the gathering.
Smolka will be the moderator for a mayors roundtable on the first day, March 22, "The Role of Local Government in Bridging the Urban Divide," which will include the chief executives of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Rosario, Argentina; Lilongwe, Malawi; Malmo, Sweden; and Tongi, Bangladesh.
The main networking event will be “Sustainable Urban Responses to Climate Change: Vulnerable Populations,” on March 23, featuring Armando Carbonell, senior fellow and chair of the Department of Planning and Urban Form; Alberto Harth, president of Civitas in San Salvador, El Salvador and a member of the board of the Lincoln Institute; and Douglas Meffert, professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, deputy director at the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, and former Lincoln Institute fellow.
This roundtable addresses both adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change. The impacts of global warming are potentially devastating, especially for the most vulnerable urban populations in developing countries. Managing the risks caused by extreme weather, including increased flooding, wildfires, drought, and the exacerbation of the urban heat island effect will require climate-conscious city and regional plans that incorporate adaptation strategies in the location, intensity, and design of new development and redevelopment. On the mitigation side, changes in urban density, connectivity, and the mix of land uses will provide opportunities for the planning and design of lower carbon transportation, energy, and building systems.
Other scheduled sessions will include “Towards Preventive Housing Policies to Mitigate Informality,” a training event sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, UN-HABITAT, and the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, March 23. The discussion will focus on the causes and persistence of informality in cities and provides a basis for the design of policy responses to mitigate and/or provide viable alternatives to slum formation.
On March 24, Martim Smolka will be a panelist in the thematic open debate, “Adequate Access to Shelter (including Basic Social Services),” one of the six dialogues around which the World Urban Forum is structured. He will also be a panelist in the concluding dialogue, “Moving Forward on the Housing Agenda.”
Also on that day, the Lincoln Institute and the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies will host “EQUIURBE,” an interactive game on land management and tools such as land readjustment, compulsory auction and vacant land taxes, in the context of achieving equitable distribution of costs and benefits when dealing with growth areas and land provision for the poor. There will be a networking session in Spanish, Reforma legal y políticas de suelo en Centroamérica, or “Legal reform and land policy: a challenge for sustainable urbanization in Central America,” where members of a network of experts in Central America will discuss the formulation and implementation of legal reform and land policy for urban development in the region.
Others in attendance from the Lincoln Institute include Laura Mullahy, Anna Sant'Anna, Anthony Flint, and Kathryn J. Lincoln, chairman of the board of the Lincoln Institute, chief investment officer, and a member of the U.S. delegation. More detail on the sessions and the World Urban Forum is below.
Tuesday March 23, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Towards preventive housing policies to mitigate informality
Training event by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, UN-HABITAT and the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
This training activity helps participants develop an understanding of the causes and persistence of informality in our cities and provides a basis for the design of policy responses to mitigate and/or provide viable alternatives to slum formation. It will initiate participants in:
-- How to assess housing markets and policy frameworks and the relation between its malfunctioning and the proliferation of informality at different levels
-- How to understand how the housing sector works, mainly housing supply and demand.
-- How to design slum prevention responses to increase diversified & affordable housing opportunities at scale, including the provision of serviced land.
-- How to assess the impact of subsidies at local and national levels on land and housing prices and occupations.
-- How to assess effective payment capacity - once it is considered what ‘informal occupants’ are already paying for land.
The event includes: an open discussion on controversial propositions associated with the conventional wisdom regarding informality; a visualized simulation of how market prices are composed in an urbanization project; and a brainstorm on initiatives that contribute to mitigate the formation of new informal settlements, their potential self –funding, the accommodation of stakeholder’s interests, the managerial capabilities required and the supporting legal framework. At the end a list of do’s and dont’s in housing policies and regularization programs is discussed.
Tuesday, March 23, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Sustainable urban responses to climate change: vulnerable populations
Networking Event
This roundtable addresses both adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change. The impacts of global warming are potentially devastating, especially for the most vulnerable urban populations in developing countries. Managing the risks caused by extreme weather, including increased flooding, wildfires, drought, and the exacerbation of the urban heat island effect will require climate-conscious city and regional plans that incorporate adaptation strategies in the location, intensity, and design of new development and redevelopment. On the mitigation side, urban density, connectivity, and mix of land uses will provide opportunities for the planning and design of lower carbon transportation, energy, and building systems.
Objectives:
-- To address the pressing problem of urban populations vulnerable to climate change impacts.
-- To enumerate the practices of cities in achieving adaptation and mitigation goals.
-- To underscore the importance of land policy in planning for climate change.
Wednesday, March 24, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Thematic Open Debate - Access to Serviced Land
Wednesday, March 24, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Thematic Concluding Session - Taking Forward the Housing Agenda
Martim Smolka, Director of the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean and Co-Chair of the Department of International Studies, is one of the panelists in this thematic Open Debate, corresponding to Dialogue 3: Adequate Access to Shelter (including Basic Social Services), one of the six dialogues around which the Forum is structured. Dr. Smolka will also particulate in the thematic concluding session.
Wednesday, March 24, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
EQUIURBE, achieving equitable distribution of costs and benefits
Training by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
EQUIURBE is an interactive game on land management and tools such as land readjustment, compulsory auction and vacant land taxes when dealing with growth areas and land provision for the poor.
This training activity provides with basic useful policy responses to deal with conflicting issues that contribute to informal settlements, such as location pattern of land ownership, their rights and obligations, rules of market and government driven plans and projects and limitations of negotiated agreements. It helps participants learn:
-- How to recognize a situation where there will be an unequal distribution of costs and benefits when a growing area is going to be developed in a city.
-- How to design rules that will enable equitable distribution of costs and benefits that help achieving goals of government agencies and land developers while enabling supply of adequate land for the poor.
-- How to link specific land management tools to a principle of equitable distribution of costs and benefits in growing areas.
Wednesday, March 24, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Legal reform and land policy: a challenge for sustainable urbanization in Central America
Networking Event (in Spanish only)
Central American countries are characterized by a weak governmental presence in the economy, low taxes and low investments in infrastructure and urban services. Recently, there has been an effort towards the recovery of public capacity to intervene in cities in order to mitigate the existing large regional inequalities. During the last few years a reaction to this situation has tended towards reform or, in some cases, institutionalization of a new legal framework. This event proposes the evaluation of these efforts of public entities to promote cities and territories social and politically more inclusive, economically and environmentally more sustainable.
Objectives:
-- Present a benchmarking of Central American national legislation for urban management and discuss the key elements of recent policy initiatives to integrate and promote sustainable urbanization in the region.
-- Compare Central America instruments, regulations and policy for urban land management with Latin American and world tendencies.
-- Strengthening the Central American land policy network to help build knowledge, share ideas and best practices in an effort to advance the battle for sustainable urban development in the region.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading resource for key issues concerning the use, regulation, and taxation of land. Providing high-quality education and research, the Institute strives to improve public dialogue and decisions about land policy.
# # #