Plymouth research features at the World Urban Forum in Cairo

Exploring the impacts of rapid urbanisation on cities, communities, economies, and climate change
Cairo city with pyramids in the background
The University of Plymouth's expertise in smart cities and sustainable communities is being showcased at a globally significant event in Egypt, this week.
Convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12) is being attended by around 14,000 delegates in Cairo.
WUF12 is focused on localising the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on the local actions and initiatives required to curb current global challenges.
And Plymouth is one of only 45 universities from around the world invited to take part, via the Habitat UNI partnership.
Associate Head of School for Art, Design and Architecture, Professor Katharine Willis is attending the five-day event, which begins today.
Professor Katharine Willis at WUF12

I'm delighted we have the opportunity to take research from the University of Plymouth to a major event like this.

We really are working on key issues that the World Urban Forum is trying to address, and the theme of this week's event aligns with our focus on sustainable and inclusive communities.

Katharine WillisProfessor Katharine Willis
Professor of Smart Cities and Communities

Established in 2001 by the United Nations, the World Urban Forum is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanisation, designed to examine the impacts of rapid urbanisation on cities, communities, economies, and climate change.
The theme for WUF12 is ‘It all starts at home: Local actions for sustainable cities and communities’, and Professor Willis adds:
"The future of cities isn’t about how many buildings we construct or how many jobs we create, but how people live in urban environments, now and in the future. WUF12 offers a chance to have a dialogue with attendees from places we don't have the chance to engage with any other way and discuss how our trailblazing place-based research here in Plymouth fits into a global context."
In addition to representing the University of Plymouth at WUF12, Professor Willis is one of just seven international academics featuring in the UN's forthcoming Global Urban Lectures.
Plymouth is the only university in Europe whose work will feature in the seventh series of 15-minute lectures by global experts in sustainable urbanisation.
The latest season will take a closer look at what truly defines quality of life, and Professor Willis's talk titled 'Sense and the City' is due to be released later this month.
Professor Katharine Willis at WUF12
 

Smart and Inclusive Cities Lab

Use of new technologies to develop inclusive urban spaces is today becoming more commonplace. Professor Katharine Willis is a leading voice in how people interact with technology and the communities in which they live. Her research through the Smart and Inclusive Cities Lab aims to address complex, system-based challenges around the transition to sustainability and net zero through an inclusive approach. It employs co-design and co-produced methods and innovative uses of data and technology.
Smart cities viewed through technology