Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil & Climate Change

Seattle Area

A lecture by renowned sustainability scholar Peter Newman

On Monday, January 12, 2009, Mayor Nickels and City Green Building invites the public to attend a special lecture by Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University in Perth Australia. The FREE lecture will explore emerging methods for city development in a post peak oil world.

Bertha Knight Landes Reception Room Seattle City Hall - 600 4th Avenue Monday, January 12, 2009 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

FREE Half of the world’s inhabitants now live in cities. In the next twenty years, the number of urban dwellers will swell to an estimated five billion people. With inefficient transportation systems and poorly designed buildings, many cities—especially in the United States—consume enormous quantities of fossil fuels and emit high levels of greenhouse gases. But our planet is rapidly running out of the carbon-based fuels that have powered urban growth for centuries and we seem to be unable to curb our greenhouse gas emissions. Are the world’s cities headed for inevitable collapse? Peter Newman does not believe that oblivion is necessarily the destiny of urban areas. Instead, he believes that intelligent planning and visionary leadership can help cities meet the impending crises, and look to existing initiatives in cities around the world. Rather than responding with fear to a post peak oil world, learn about the ten “strategic steps” that Seattle can take toward greater sustainability and resilience. Peter Newman is Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University in Western Australia and Director of the CUSP Institute. Professor Newman is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leaders in sustainability. He is the author of 8 books on the subject of sustainability, transport planning and cities and well over 200 refereed journal articles. He is a member of the Board of Infrastructure Australia which is delivering $20 billion of infrastructure to Australian cities and regions using a new sustainability-based approach. City Green Building is making green building standard practice in Seattle through education, technical assistance and incentives. For resources visit: www.seattle.gov/dpd/greenbuilding