Symposium on Climate Justice & Cities

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This full-day event brought together academics and policymakers to discuss cutting edge research and policy implications for urban communities disproportionately affected by climate change. Speakers included recipients of our Urban Challenge Grants, representing over 20 departments across the University of Toronto, who discussed their findings with co-panelists and international discussants on the themes of:

• Disparate environmental impacts on vulnerable communities
• Unequal access to environmental amenities
• The viability of strategies for sustainability and GHG emissions reduction
• Building community capacity to deal with climate injustice

Keynote addresses were given by Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and Julie Dabrusin, Member of Parliament for Toronto—Danforth (Ontario) & Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. 

Time	Schedule	Panellists
8:30 – 8:45	Arrivals
8:45 – 9:00	Welcome from the School of Cities
9:00 – 10:00	Panel 1: Environmental impacts on at-risk communities  How can data-driven approaches help cities plan for, and seek to mitigate, the disparate impacts of climate change on at-risk communities?	– Moderator: Kate Mulligan, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, U of T – International discussant: Priyanka DeSouza, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, UC Denver   – Amanda Norton, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, UTM – Lief Pagalan, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, U of T  – Karen Smith, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, UTSC
10:00 -10:15	Networking Break
10:15 – 11:15	Panel 2: Access to environmental infrastructures How can we better understand, and plan to overcome, urban challenges pertaining to unequal access to environmental infrastructures?	– Moderator: Robert Soden, Department of Computer Science and School of the Environment, U of T – International discussant: Maya E Carrasquillo, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley  – Amy Bilton, Centre for Global Engineering, U of T – Dr. Alex Filazzola, Data Scientist, ApexRMS – Nidhi Subramanyam, Department of Geography and Planning, U of T
11:15 – 11:30	Networking Break
11:30 – 12:30	Panel 3: The viability of strategies for sustainability and GHG emissions reduction What is the role of urban policymakers in achieving sustainable land use and reducing greenhouse gas emissions?	– Moderator: Marc Johnson, Department of Biology, UTM – International discussant: Mikhail Chester, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University  – Françoise Cardou, Department of Biological Science, UTSC – Md Abdul Halim, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, U of T – Shoshanna Saxe, Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering, U of T
12:30 – 13:30	Lunch & Mingle
13:30 – 14:25	Keynote: Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University
14:30 – 15:30	Panel 4: Building community capacity to deal with climate injustice What are best practices with respect to building local capacity to empower communities to pursue climate justice?	– Moderator: Praneeta Mudaliar, Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, UTM – International discussant: Linda Shi, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University   – Joanna Kocsis, Department of Geography, Politics, and Sociology, Newcastle University – Rebecca McMillan, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography & Planning, U of T – Fikile Nxumalo, Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, U of T – Imara Rolston, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, U of T
15:30 – 15:45	Networking Break
15:45 – 16:00	Closing Keynote: Julie Dabrusin, Member of Parliament for Toronto—Danforth (Ontario) & Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change
16:00-16:15	Final Remarks
16:15	Reception