Sustainable Urban Futures

Cities, sub-national governments, local authorities and urban spaces are key components of any initiative for achieving sustainable development at the local, regional and global level. As populations concentrate in the world’s cities, the future growth of urban centres is of particular concern for planners and policy-makers in both the developed and the developing world. However, contemporary patterns of urban growth do not conform to previous experiences or expectations. Large cities in the developing world have been attracting millions of people, many of them living in sprawling slums without the most basic necessities such as housing and sanitation. People who live in the sprawling slums are more vulnerable to natural disasters. Read More

Global Environmental Problems in Cities and Local Governments:

Cities and Climate Change:

Understand how and why cities are affected by climate change and understand how cities are coping.

Cities and Biodiversity:

Analyze how the urbanization processes compete with ecosystems, looking at the institutional, economic and social dimensions.

Local Governance:

Examine how local governance structures emerge and change, and how they affect the environment and development.

Old problems, new agendas for implementation:

Study how to make global environmental policy implementation more effective at the local level through integration with other policies. Read More

Postdoctoral Fellow's Final Presentation:

"The Bumpy Road towards Low Carbon Mobility in Cities: A Case Study in Toyama City, Japan" Joana Portugal Pereira, UNU-IAS Postdoctoral Fellow.

Call for Papers

The UNU-IAS Sustainable Urban Futures (SUF) Programme is editing a special issue on Climate Co-Benefits Approach in Urban Asia in the Journal of Cleaner Production (Elsevier). The call for papers is opened until June 20, 2012. Read More

UNU-IAS encourages rigorous and open intellectual exchange by providing faculty and fellows with a stimulating interdisciplinary and multicultural academic environment. The Institute hosts round table discussions, seminars, and lectures by in-house and visiting faculty members and visiting academics on a range of issues within the broad spectrum of UNU-IAS’ research programme. These events are open to the public. For the full list of latest events please Read More

Past Events

Carbon Governance in Asia Workshop

Urban Development with Co-benefits Approach Workshop

Greening the world economy through cities
by Erin Kennedy, Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliveira, Osman Balaban, Aki Suwa, Christopher Doll, Ping Jiang, Magali Dreyfus, Raquel Moreno-Peñaranda and Puspita Dirgahayani on January 30, 2013.

UNU-IAS Group Publications

2013

Delhi revisited

Sohail Ahmad, Osman Balaban, Christopher N.H. Doll and Magali Dreyfus, 2013, “Delhi revisited”, Cities, Volume 31, pp. 641-653.

Green Economy and Good Governance for Sustainable Development: Opportunities, Promises and Concerns

Edited by Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliveira

Governance Challenges for Greening the Urban Economy: Understanding and Assessing the Links between Governance and Green Economy in Cities

Doll, C & Balaban, O 2011, ‘Urban development with co-benefits: A project of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies’, CONTACT Australasia, vol. 21, pp. 18-22.

Jiang, P,2011, ‘Analysis of national and local energy-efficiency design standards in the public building sector in China,’ Energy for Sustainable Development, 15, 443-450.

Puppim de Oliveira, Jose Antonio (2011). “Why an air pollution achiever lags on climate policy? The case of local policy implementation in Mie, Japan”. Environment & Planning A (Pion). 43(8), 1894-1909.

Puppim de Oliveira, Jose Antonio; Balaban, O.; Doll, C.N.H.; Moreno-Penaranda, R.; Gasparatos, A.; Iossifova, D.; Suwa, A. (2011). “Cities, Biodiversity and Governance: Perspectives and Governance Challenges for the Convention on Biological Diversity at the City Level”. Biological Conservation, 144(5), 1302-1313.