A Pandemic Exposes a Planetary Health Crisis: New Priorities in Cities | Webinar

Date
4 June 2020
Time
15:00 - 17:00, GMT

HHI hosts a new webinar series on urban humanitarian crises via Facebook Live: "Resilience at Risk: Cities, Crises and Confronting a Changed World". The four talks feature discussions between experts in the urban humanitarian response space: Ronak Patel, David Sanderson, Meg Keen & Anshu Sharma. Event Partners include HHI, UNSW Sydney, the Australian Pacific Security College at ANU, and SEEDS.

Cities are the epicenters of a planetary health crisis, as well as hubs of resilience often hidden in plain sight. When a pandemic hits, it exposes vulnerability and rapidly wreaks havoc among dense urban populations. Yet the value of cities has always been the concentration of opportunities, networks and human as well as physical resources. In the face of COVID-19 how have urban communities fared and what does that tell us about where our priorities should lie?

About the "Resilience at Risk" Webinar Series:
COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on cities across the globe. This though is not the only crises that cities are facing. The climate emergency has fuelled fires, worsened floods and increased heat. Armed conflict and urban violence are also on the increase, while the impacts of rapid-onset disasters such as windstorms and earthquakes threaten to cause damage across thousands of rapidly urbanising and poorly-prepared towns and cities across Asia and the Pacific in particular.

The need to build resilience has been a prominent approach for well over 10 years. What does resilience mean though in an era of pandemic, climate emergency and rapid urbanisation?

This online series from HHI, UNSW Sydney, the Australian Pacific Security College at ANU, and SEEDS presents four talks by experienced experts who explore what the challenges are, where the opportunities lie, but most importantly, what we should be doing to confront a changed world.