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Daniël Hogendoorn, Senior Strategist on urban sustainability transitions, at the Municipality of Amsterdam, is a new policy fellow at IAS. His kick-off lecture will explore how to think more rigorously about getting city systems within planetary boundary, emphasizing the need of a progress on both sides of the science-policy interface.
Event details of The Anthropocene is Largely Urban-driven. Can We Invest City Systems Back Within Planetary Boundaries?
Date
12 November 2024
Time
12:00 -14:00
Room
Sweelinck Room
Daniël Hogendoorn

The Anthropocene is Largely Urban-driven. Can We Invest City Systems Back Within Planetary Boundaries?

Human Activity and Urban Impact

Human activity has caused irreversible shifts in Earth's systems, and these trends will continue unless significant changes are made. Cities are central to this activity, with 70% of people expected to live in urban areas by 2050. Urban regions significantly impact the climate, hydrosphere, and biosphere, contributing roughly 70% of CO2 emissions, while also driving deforestation and water extraction, and agriculture and industry being in large part subservient to these complex systems. City systems, since the Industrial Revolution, have accelerated their creep over the planetary surface, as nighttime satellite photos illustrate so well.

Rethinking Urban Investments

Cities must rethink how their investments in infrastructure and growth either mitigate or exacerbate these impacts. There's two frames of reference to take here: from within the city system and taking the global ensemble view. The first is a matter for practice, the second a matter for science.

Cities can take on stewardship roles by reinventing conventions (e.g., accounting practices, risk assessment methods) used to plan and invest, ensuring daily growth aligns with planetary boundaries. A pivotal change is adopting a longer time horizon—integrating long-term perspectives into financial decision-making, beyond merely translating climate scenarios into policies.

At a global level, we need a detailed view the empirical multiscale networks of city systems that drive, in large part, anthropocene civilization, rather than focusing, as the IPCC does (and does well), on 'natural' phenomena only on the science side and adressing nation-states alone on the consequence side. A global highly empirical view of city systems as natural phenomena in their own right should inform policies, and in particular investment policies, tailoring science-driven actions to urban areas that contribute most to climate issues.

Two Perspectives

Practitioner View: Amsterdam as a Case Study

The first perspective examines Amsterdam, a city well-positioned with political commitment, resources, and sustainability policies to work toward planetary boundaries. If it doesn't work here, where can it? However, taking the insider/practice frame of reference, progress requires rethinking conventions around finance and budgeting - together with other cities doing their own innovations - instead of just throwing money at the problem.

Scientific View: City Systems as Complex Systems

The second perspective calls for scientific understanding of city systems—how they grow, sustain themselves, and impact the Anthropocene. There are around 10,000 city systems worldwide; half emerged in the past 40 years, and 20% are now shrinking. These systems contribute about 70% of CO2 emissions and house over half of humanity, facing the direct impacts of climate change. Despite their influence, city systems remain understudied in climate science, often seen as governance entities rather than complex dynamic systems.

Getting city systems within planetary boundary, requires, I believe, progress on both sides of the science-policy interface, and I hope to explore how to think more rigorously about these matters both from an academic and a practitioner's perspective at IAS.

Programme

12:00 Lunch on arrival
12:30 Welcome & introduction by Huub Dijstelbloem
12:40 Lecture by Daniël Hogendoorn
13:40 Q&A