/ UN World Urban Forum
Both climate change adaptation and mitigation are essential. What urban design strategies can best help?
by Simon GathercoleSimon Gathercole and Daniel Elsea attended the 2020 World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi. Organised by UN-Habitat, the biennial gathering is an intergovernmental conference on all things urban. It is an opportunity for policymakers, mayors, planners, civil society, and all those involved in the project of the city, to share best practice on meeting the goals of the UN's New Urban Agenda.
Simon was a panelist on one of the Forum's evening 'Urban Talks', in which panelists discussed how architects and urban designers in particular could contribute to developing measures for climate change adaptation and mitigation. He shared the lessons learned from our work in the region as anecdotes to automobile-fuelled sprawl. He also spoke on our newest commission in the region - Miza, a new cultural and educational quarter in Abu Dhabi, which involves the recycling of dozens of the port's warehouses.
Our ongoing work on the Al-Ula UNESCO World Heritage Site was also exhibited for the first time at the Forum.
This is the second World Urban Forum Allies and Morrison has attended. Daniel was a delegate to the 2018 installment in Kuala Lumpur, sharing these observations in Building Design.
