Cities around the world are facing great change. What are the opportunities, problems and challenges – and are there solutions for some of these that can be shared more widely? Tim Moonen (Business of Cities) sets the context, Susan Parnell (African Centre for Cities) looks at Africa, Olamide Udoma (Future Lagos) looks at Lagos, and Gary Younge (US Correspondent for the Guardian for 12 years) talks about the American experience.

Speaker biographies:

Tim Moonen is Director of Intelligence at the Business of Cities, an intelligence and strategy firm based in London. He leads research and strategy on globalisation and the future of cities. He specialises in competitiveness, governance and comparative performance of cities worldwide. He has extensive experience working with partners such as OECD, Brookings, Future Cities Catapult and JLL.

Susan Parnell is an urban geographer in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where she established the African Centre for Cities. Before joining UCT, she held positions at Wits University and the University of London (SOAS), and visiting research fellowships from the LSE, Oxford University, Durham University and the British Academy. She was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at UCL. Since 1994 her work has focused on contemporary urban policy research, covering local government, poverty reduction and urban environmental justice. She is on the boards of several NGOs concerned with poverty alleviation, sustainability and gender equity in post-apartheid South Africa. She is the co-editor of The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South and co-author of Africa’s Urban Revolution (2014).

Olamide Udoma is a researcher, writer and filmmaker holding degrees in BSc Architecture, MA Design and MPhil Infrastructure Management. She has worked in London, South Africa and Nigeria with various organisations focusing on transport management, slum upgrading and housing rights in urbanising African cities. Currently based in Lagos, she is engaged in bridging the gap between communities and their environment. She is the Lagos manager and editor of Our Future Cities NPO.

Gary Younge is a feature writer and columnist for the Guardian, and writes a monthly column for The Nation. He is the author of a number of books, including No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the American South; Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States; and Who Are We - and Should it Matter in the 21st Century? He has made several radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from the tea party to hip hop culture.

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