Cities on the Frontline: City Leaders Speak, Maintaining Vision in a World with Increasing Risks
When
Feb 17, 2022
Time
08:00 AM
Where
Online
The Covid-19 pandemic has made clear that one crisis quickly begets another. The climate extremes that have been impacting cities in recent years – floods, droughts, cyclones – collide with existing challenges of aging and inadequate urban infrastructure, preventing cities from full economic recovery. Cascading risks have become more apparent in recent years, as cities can barely recover from an extreme weather event or natural disaster, before being struck with a follow-on terrorist attack, civil unrest, or other social disruptions. The impacts of these events have been significantly magnified by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Given the increasing vulnerabilities that cities are facing, it is critical that city leaders maintain public communication and trust in the face of unknown future scenarios and risks. This reality places increasing pressure and challenge upon city leaders. The visionary leaders of tomorrow must be equipped with the skills and expertise to be able to galvanize and unite communities to respond to multiple ongoing risks in a resilient and equitable manner.
The third session of Cities on the Frontline, jointly organized by Resilient Cities Network and the World Bank, will highlight a key discussion among city leaders that took place during the Understanding Risk Asia Conference (UR Asia) in December 2021, focusing on “Maintaining Vision in a World with Increasing Risks”.
Featured Speakers
This conversation features city leaders Hemali Boghawala, Mayor of the City of Surat, Mike Gillooly, Former Chief Resilience Officer of the City of Christchurch, and Elaine Tan, Deputy Director at the Center for Liveable Cities in Singapore, joining on a moderated discussion on how they have been understanding, contextualizing, and handling risk in their cities.
Cities on the Frontline is a virtual thought leadership speaker series. The series, which began in 2020 co-organized by the Resilient Cities Network and the World Bank Group’s City Resilience Program, provides city practitioners and the industries and residents that they support, an understanding and means for responding to the pandemic and associated stresses, as well as solutions for planning towards a more resilient recovery.
Questions about the Speaker’s Series, additional registration requests, or related items can be directed to media@resilientcitiesnetwork.org