City Futures: Confronting the Crisis of Urban Development in the Global South

Date:
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Location:
Columbia University, Morningside Campus, 329 Pupin

Contact:
Amanda R. Christie, arc2140@columbia.edu

RSVP:
Register

Event Description:
Speaker: Edgar Pieterse, Director, African Centre for Cities, Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town

The Earth Institute, the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) present "City Futures: Confronting the Crisis of Urban Development in the Global South," with Edgar Pieterse, Director, African Centre for Cities, Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town. Open to the public.

In the past two decades, an urban revolution has taken place in the Global South. The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of governance - have been well-documented. In his new book, Pieterse argues that to solve these problems there is an urgent need to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalized people.

Edgar Pieterse is also a founding director of Isandla Institute; an urban policy think-tank where he continues advocacy oriented research work. His publications include: Voices of the Transition: The Politics, Poetics and Practices of Social Change in South Africa (2004), Democratising Local Government: The South African Experiment. (2002) and Consolidating Developmental Local Government: Lessons from the South Africa Experience (2007).