Jeffrey Raven and MAURD students were invited by Dr. Joan Clos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UN-Habitat Executive Director, to attend the pre-World Urban Forum 7 launch event of “The City we Need” at the Ford Foundation. The launching session gathered key organizations and personalities to exchange views on how we can plan, build, and manage our cities to achieve sustainable developments that promote social inclusion, resilience and prosperity. Former Mayor Bloomberg, recently designated Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, presented a final note and emphasized that cities must invest in sustainable technology to combat climate change and become more resilient and economically vibrant.

During the session, students discussed their work on climate-resilient urban design with Eduardo López Moreno, Director of Research and Capacity Development at ;UN-HABITAT, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and Yamina Djacta, Officer in Charge New York Office, UN-HABITAT. ; Students also met with Cynthia Rosenzweig – Head of Climate Impacts Group, NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (New York City). ; Cynthia is Senior Research Scientist at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, recently co-chaired the New York City Panel on Climate Change, and is co-director of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN). Jeffrey Raven currently collaborates with Cynthia and her colleagues as contributor to the Design and Planning section of UCCRN’s next Assessment Report for Climate Change in Cities (ARC3-2).