MdM Keynote Speaker Series: "Urban Commons in a Fast Changing World: Building Ecologically Smart Cities in the Global South", by Harini Nagendra

Harini Nagendra, from Azim Premji University, will be giving a keynote talk on “Urban Commons in a Fast Changing World: Building Ecologically Smart Cities in the Global South”.

MdM Keynote Speaker Series 2024


Title: “Urban Commons in a Fast Changing World: Building Ecologically Smart Cities in the Global South”
 

Speaker:  Harini Nagendra, Azim Premji University

Date: Thursday, 16^th of May 2024 
Time: from 12:00 to 13:00 
Venue: Room Z/023 - Z/022  and Online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86979096960?pwd=cmEvdmlSN08wOTh3Mk05VlRvWXRyUT09

Cities are on a breakneck path to growth, especially in the global South. It has never been more clear why we must begin to think ecologically about our urban future. Drawing on the deep ecological history of Bangalore – one of India’s largest and fastest growing cities – I will discuss how commons and commoning have evolved in the city over centuries. This presentation will also highlight the use of an interdisciplinary suite of approaches including GIS, remote sensing and the use of historical maps linked with oral histories, ecological analyses and social interviews to increase our spatial and temporal understanding of urban commons, helping to visualize how we can re-design ecologically smart cities, to accommodate nature, equity and human wellbeing in the global South.

Harini Nagendra is the Director, Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University. She is known for her research spanning over 30 years on forest conservation, and urban sustainability, with several seminal publications in both areas of work. Her awards include the 2009 Cozzarelli Prize from the US National Academy of Sciences, the 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar award, and the 2017 Clarivate Web of Science award. She is an elected member of The World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, and the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. She has written over 200 academic papers, and is on Stanford University’s list of the top 2% cited scientists in the world.  In addition to academic writing, she is a well-known public speaker and writer, and has published books including Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future; Cities and Canopies: Trees of Indian Cities; and Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities, with a monthly newspaper column The Green Goblin. She also writes the acclaimed Bangalore Detectives Club series, a set of historical mysteries set in 1920s Bangalore. Prof. Nagendra has been a Lead Author on the IPCC AR5 reports, and is on the Steering Committee of the Future Earth Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society, and the Urban Knowledge Advisory Network, the Advisory Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate-KIC and the WRI Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities, and Editor-in-Chief of Global Environmental Change.