Putrajaya, Malaysia | The Urban Opportunity for Building a Resilient Future | 23-26 July 2019
The fourth Frontiers of Development symposium was held in partnership with Heriot-Watt University and took place from Tuesday 23 July to Friday 26 July 2019 at the university's Malaysia campus in Putrajaya. This was the first event in the Building Resilience series.
Approximately 65 leaders from different disciplines and countries came together to discuss the challenges faced when considering the opportunity for building a resilient future in an urban context. Sub-themes considered included preparing for and responding to urban environmental hazards; planning for a sustainable urban future; and building resilient urban communities.
Event Chairs
Professor Garry Pender FREng, Heriot-Watt University
Professor Garry Pender FREng is Deputy Principal (Research and Innovation) at Heriot-Watt University, with responsibility for implementing the university’s research and innovation strategy, including that in its Dubai and Malaysia Campuses. His background is in civil engineering and his personal research interests lie in flood management and sediment transport. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Professor Caroline Knowles, Goldsmiths, University of London
Professor Caroline Knowles is Director of the Cities and Infrastructure Programme at the British Academy, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. An urban sociologist, Caroline is the author of many books and papers on cities, ethnicity, race, and the circulations of people (as migrants) and of objects composing contemporary globalization. Her books include Flip-Flop: A Journey through Globalisation’s Backroads, www.flipfloptrail.com; Hong Kong: Migrant Lives, Landscapes and Journeys; Race and Social Analysis; and Bedlam on the Streets.
Symposium sub-themes
At the core of each symposium is three multidisciplinary, workshop-style sessions which focus on different sub-themes. Participants are obliged to attend every session to maximise the opportunity to make new contacts and build collaborative relationships. Whilst a session may not directly relate to an individual's research area, it is expected that participants attend all sessions to learn how their work can link in with the work of researchers from other disciplines, in order to address development challenges.
Preparing for and responding to urban environmental hazards
Session Co-Chair: Bruce Malamud, King's College London
Session Co-Chair: Lindsay Beevers, Heriot-Watt University
Speakers:
- Complicated and complex: How do we include multi-hazard risk in the urban Global South?
Faith Taylor, King's College London - Can we engineer resilience to hazards in urban areas? EU case studies
Maria Pregnolato, University of Bristol - How does dynamic vulnerability influence urban resilience? Case study of Bandung City, Indonesia
Saut Sagala, Resilience Development Initiative
Planning for a sustainable urban future
Session Co-Chair: Ya Ping Wang, University of Glasgow
Session Co-Chair: Claudia Loggia, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Speakers:
- What is the role of multi-scalar private entrepreneurs in low-income informal settlements in the Global South?
Yasmin Ara, Lancaster University - What are the challenges of using data for transport planning in the Global South?
Roberto Speicys Cardoso, Scipopulis - What is the role of urban blue and green infrastructures in planning for a sustainable future?
Alex Lechner, University of Nottingham (Malaysia)
Building resilient urban communities
Session Co-Chair: Diane Archer, Stockholm Environment Institute
Session Co-Chair: Nishara Fernando, University of Colombo
Speakers:
- Eric Chu, University of California, Davis
- Huraera Jabeen, BRAC University
- Bansari Prajapati, Mahila Housing SEWA Trust
On the second day, participants had the opportunity to hear from Professor Paul Wilkinson, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Paul gave a keynote about the research that is being undertaken by LSHTM's Centre on Climate Change & Planetary Health regarding how cities can achieve healthy and sustainable urban development.
We were pleased to welcome Matthew Oakley, Technical Director at Mott MacDonald, for a second case-study keynote on the final morning. This focused on the work that Mott MacDonald have undertaken in Malaysia and the wider region to build climate resilience measures into infrastructure. For example, the Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel (SMART Tunnel) in Kuala Lumpur.
As part of the symposium schedule, participants also had the opportunity to visit the centre of Kuala Lumpur where they heard from AECOM Associate Director and Landscape Designer, Hana Suhana Suhaimi. Hana gave participants an insight into AECOM's role as delivery partner in the Malaysian government's River of Life project.
Frontiers of Development seed funding
Seed funding grants worth up to £20,000 each were available to groups of two or more participants of the symposium. Successful project titles and awardees from previous symposia are listed here.