10am Eastern Time
Bristol boasts the strongest economy of any UK city outside London, and is one of the country’s fastest growing city. Like many dynamic, booming cities its growth includes rapid demographic change, increasing diversity and a growing gap in prosperity. How do resilient cities address the challenges of deepening social and economic inequality? Why is diversity, migration and inclusion essential to a conversation about city resilience and livability? As one of Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities, a program intended to help cities “better address the increasing shocks and stresses of the 21st century,” Bristol has a unique opportunity to put social resilience into an urban agenda for economic vitality, innovation and sustainability. Join us for a Big Idea webinar to learn how Bristol is managing these complex community challenges and building its capacity to leverage diversity and the economic and social innovations that drive urban prosperity.
Register here
Speakers:
Di Robinson
Service Director, Neighbourhoods and Communities, Bristol City Council (Bristol, United Kingdom)
Di Robinson has worked in the public sector over the past 17 years, mainly delivering in the areas of Neighbourhood Management and Governance, Service Transformation and Community Engagement. Her current role as Service Director for Neighbourhoods with Bristol City Council includes managing the city’s Neighbourhood Governance agenda, Community Development, Corporate Equalities, Voluntary Community Investment, Libraries and Regulatory Services. Prior to this Di worked in a variety of roles within in the public, private and VCS sectors.
Ian Roderick
Director, The SchuIan Roderick smmacher Institute (Bristol, United Kingdom)
Ian is the director of The Schumacher Institute, an independent research and learning organisation working with the ideas of E.F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful. The Institute is in Bristol, UK.
He has a BSc in Mathematics, an MSc in Operational Research and an MSc in Responsibility & Business Practice. He started his career at the Building Research Establishment before joining Rank Xerox International, eventually to head up strategic forecasting and business modelling. He then co-founded a successful software development company which was sold in 2000 leaving him free to pursue his interests in systems thinking, environmentalism and social justice. Ian is the Chair of the Resilience Action Group, Bristol Green Capital, the agency leading Bristol: European Green Capital 2015 agenda.
He was President of the UK Systems Society (2005 – 2008). He is co-founder of a charity called The Converging World and is on the board of Low Carbon South West.
Mary W. Rowe
Director, Urban Resilience and Livability, Municipal Art Society of New York City (New York, United States)
Mary W. Rowe is currently Director, Urban Resilience and Livability at Municipal Art Society of New York City, one of the country’s oldest and most successful advocacy organizations, working to promote the livability and resilience of New York City through effective urban planning, land use, design and civic engagement. Current initiatives include Re-Imagining the Civic Commons, supported by the Knight Foundation, to explore the ever-changing uses of shared places – civic assets including libraries, community centers, settlement houses, and public spaces – in contemporary cities, and the possibilities for new models that enhance their value, ensure their sustainability, and contribute to creating successful cities.
Mary also coordinates the MAS Global Network, a peer-to-peer learning platform connecting urban practitioners contributing to the livability and resilience of cities around the country, continent, and around the world. Previously, she spent five years learning about granular approaches to urban innovation while supporting the New Orleans Institute for Resilience and Innovation, a loose alliance of initiatives that emerged in response to the systemic collapses of 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Originally from Toronto, Mary worked closely for ten years with Avana Capital Corporation and the Maytree Foundation on a variety of urban focused initiatives, and began her career working for the federal government in Canada on policy connections between immigration and employment. She has a particular interest in self-organization in cities, as the underpinning of urban social, economic, cultural and environmental resilience, and is a contributor to several volumes on urban life.
