Distinguished Lecture on Sustainable Development by Professor Xuemei Bai

Cities as Transformative Agents for Global Sustainability

Abstract:
Rapid urbanization over the past few decades has been one of the most significant social transformations of our time, carrying profound economic, environmental, and cultural implications. Cities are on the frontlines—not only in addressing a myriad of local and regional challenges but also in mitigating and adapting to global environmental changes such as climate change. Increasingly, cities are being recognized as key subnational actors in international science and policy arenas, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Drawing on more than two decades of research on urbanization and cities, Professor Bai's lecture will examine the imperatives to reconceptualize cities as transformative agents for global sustainability, explore what this reconceptualization entails, and discuss how such reconceptualization can be used to inform and reshape urban policy and planning practices.

10:30 am–12:00 nn (HKT)
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English

Moderator

Professor Amos Tai

Associate Professor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Professor Xuemei Bai

Xuemei Bai is a Distinguished Professor and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at Australian National University. Her research focuses on the science and policy of rapid urbanization and urban system sustainability. She has published extensively on these topics, including near 30 in Nature, Science, and several Nature research journals. She serves as an Earth Commissioner, Co-Chair of the Future Earth Governing Council, and a Coordinating Lead Author for IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. She is a Fellow of Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and was named as one of the World's 100 Most Influential People in Climate Change Policy in 2019 and 2022. She is the Laureate of the Volvo Environment Prize 2018, and the Global Economy Prize 2021.