Lara Kinneir to address World Urban Forum 9

Gridlock at London’s Elephant & Castle

The LSA’s Deputy Director Lara Kinneir will host an event at World Urban Forum 9 exploring models of urban governance and their impact on the city. The discussion will build on work Lara started six years ago when she established a ‘thematic hub’ on urban governance as part of the UN Habitat University Network Initiative.

There are now nine hubs from cities including Makerere, Cordoba (Argentina), Stockholm, Hanover and London. Hubs consist of a network of universities that are engaged in thematic research through education programmes, research and practice, with links to city governments.

Lara’s event, Innovative Urban Governance for New Urban Communities, will ask the following questions:  what models are city leaders and stakeholders using and to what effect? Where will the next generation of city leaders and leadership models arise from? How can education support innovation in urban governance?

WUF is the world’s leading conference on urban issues and attracts 25,000 global attendees from governments, academics, professionals and the third sector. Meetings involve a mix of high level and ‘on-the-ground’ stakeholders. It was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. Convened by UN-Habitat, the Forum has become one of the most open gatherings on the international arena, for exchanging views and experiences on urban challenges.

The Ninth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9) will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February.