IHC Weekly Update
January 15, 2016
In this Update 
 

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3rd Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference

Early next month, the World Bank will be hosting a 3rd conference to focus on the challenges and opportunities of rapid urbanization. With similar events taking place in 2013 and 2014, this conference will bring  together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss sustainable urbanization in developing countries, this year with a special emphasis on the environment.

In partnership with  George Washington University, New York University and The Growth Dialogue, the conference will address urban environmental challenges ranging from the impacts of rapid population growth and increasing resource consumption to greater natural disaster vulnerability and environmentally induced migration. 

Presenters will discuss what is being done and what is still needed in order to create and implement policies that attenuate the causes of climate change and to effectively protect cities from the impacts of climate change.

WHEN: Monday February 1st 
WHERE: World Bank
1818 H St NW, Wahsington D.C.

Preregistration for the conference is open here. A webcast of the entire event will also be available. 
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Chilean Architect Wins Pritzker Prize with Affordable Urban Housing Work  

This week Alejandro Aravena won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the most prestigious in the field of architecture and design. Mr. Aravena has made a name for himself focusing on design for incremental construction, which echoes the practice of many low income families in informal settlements around the world.

Designing houses that are intentionally unfinished, Mr. Aravena's "half houses" are live-in ready but allow for improvement and expansion over time, often the only kind of investment that the very poor can afford. His work contributes to an inclusionary vision of the urban poor with design advancing the notion that "incomplete" houses do not have to aesthetically unpleasing or visibly designated as houses for the poor. 

Aravena's designs and philosophy of architecture are particularly relevant to cities as they attempt to address the growing challenges of providing affordable and adequate housing to the poor in lower and middle income countries. 

IHC is very pleased to see this type of work being celebrated at a global level. Aravena said it best himself in a recent interview: "We're living in an urban age. The same way there has been the stone age or the bronze age, we are living in the urban age." This kind of innovative design can be one of many tools that will help address urban poverty and exclusion around the world. 

Watch a PBS NewsHour Segment here, and recent Ted Talk by Aravena here.  Read more about his work and designs here and here. 

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PEPFAR and Sustainability: Lessons Learned

PEPFAR (The Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) is a cornerstone in USAID's efforts to improve global health, and particularly to  save the lives of those suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world.  P lease join the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) and Plan International for a discussion of PEPFAR's approach to sustainability and country transitions, and what changes are in motion for 2016. 

IHC members might be interested in asking how PEPFAR funding is used in cities and urban areas and if any changes are being considered due to many countries' rapid urbanization. 

The event will feature a keynote from the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and a discussion with representatives from Plan International USA, the Center for Global Development and the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

WHEN: Thursday January 21, 2 - 3:30 PM 
The Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club
529 14th Street NW Washington D.C. 
Find more information and RSVP here. 
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In the News and Around the Web
  • Read an article from CityScope and IOM on the importance of acknowledging and addressing migration in a cities agenda here. 
  • Read an article from the Smithsonian discussing a museum designed for and about Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, India here. 

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