Cities need to become more efficient and resilient in order to thrive in the face of the 'incredible challenges' they face, it emerged during a debate on Resilient Cities at MIPIM.
Cities need to become more efficient and resilient in order to thrive in the face of the 'incredible challenges' they face, it emerged during a debate on Resilient Cities at MIPIM.
The debate was held by World Cities Network in partnership with engineering services and consultancy firm Arup.
Founded in 2012, the purpose of World Cities Network is to 'bring together people who understand the urgent need to accelerate the development of urban infrastructure and the necessary operational systems to deliver resilience in face of the numerous stresses that cities face today'.
Commenting on the debate, Brian Kilkelly, founder of World Cities Network, said: 'Across the globe, cities are facing incredible challenges due to demographic shifts, resource depletion, climate change and the global stresses upon our economic systems. In order to thrive, cities need to become more adaptable, efficient, sustainable and connected - to become more resilient.'
The first debate featured a panel of city and real estate leaders, including Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council; Hannu Penttilä, deputy mayor of Helsinki; Mario Rubert, director of Barcelona City Council and David Partridge, CEO of Argent.
Among the contributors were Lynda Shillaw, director of real estate at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership; Jon Lovell, director at Deloitte Real Estate; Mark Watts, director at Arup Group; Brian Field, senior economist at the European Investment Bank and Rich Michos, vice president of Smarter Cities at IBM.
