May 15, 2012: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. WILSON CENTER - MEGACITIES — Discussion on Getting Past Megacities: How Peri-Urban Has Become the New City Center. Speakers: Edesio Fernandes, DPU Associates, University College of London and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Jeremy Gorelick, Consultant, Emerging Market Finance; Daniel K.B. Inkoom, SPRING Programme, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; Caroline Wanjiku Kihato, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Adnan Morshed, Catholic University. Location: Woodrow Wilson Center, 5th floor, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
http://wilsoncenter.org/event/getting-past-megacities-how-peri-urban-has-become-the-new-city-center Half of the world’s seven billion people currently live in cities, one billion in them in informal settlements; the United Nations projects that the global urban population will expand to as many as five billion over the next two decades. As a result of failing rural economies, conflicts, material inequalities, gentrification, and other urban development programs, people are moving into, out of, and through cities in search of profit, protection, and passage elsewhere. Once sparsely occupied peri-urban areas have become stations and destinations for people moving out of the city and those first coming to it. These peri-urban zones are where the future of cities – their opportunities and deprivation – lie. Yet we know little about these peripheral areas. Indeed, understanding their unique, often hybrid, socio-economic and political dynamics is central to achieving equitable growth, environmental sustainability, and political stability. Join us in a discussion with three urban experts drawing from experiences In Africa, Asia, and Latin America on issues paramount to sustainable urbanization: land tenure, municipal finance, and citizen security.
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