event

The Urban Century: How Cities Became Global Problem Solvers

Tue. April 11th, 2023
Live Online

While subnational diplomacy is not new, the organization of cities and urban areas into a coherent voice has led to the rise of transnational urban networks, fundamentally altered the nature of world order, and expanded opportunities for global cooperation. From the pivotal impact cities had on global public health strategy during the height of the pandemic to today’s city-to-city partnerships that generate aid and shelter for refugees fleeing the war on Ukraine—subnational diplomacy creates real, tangible impacts on the geopolitical order. How else has the transnational work of cities reverberated around the globe? And how might cities pave the way for global policy on climate, migration, and national security?

Join us for a conversation with city officials, scholars, and network leaders on the historic evolution of city diplomacy and consider what it means at the local and global levels.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Simon Curtis

Simon Curtis is associate professor in international relations at the University of Surrey and senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Ian Klaus

Founding Director, Carnegie California

Ian Klaus is the founding director of Carnegie California. He is a leading scholar on the nexus of urbanization, geopolitics, and global challenges, with extensive experience as a practitioner of subnational diplomacy.

Stewart Patrick

Senior Fellow and Director, Global Order and Institutions Program

Stewart Patrick is a senior fellow and director of the Global Order and Institutions Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary areas of research focus are the shifting foundations of world order, the future of American internationalism, and the requirements for effective multilateral cooperation on transnational challenges.

Mauricio Rodas

Mauricio Rodas is the former mayor of Quito, Ecuador, an office he assumed in 2014, when he became the youngest mayor in the capital city’s history. He is also currently world co-president of the United Cities and Local Governments Organization. He serves as a member of the boards of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

Jessica (Ika) Trijsburg

Jessica (Ika) Trijsburg is research fellow in City Diplomacy at the Melbourne Centre for Cities, working on the Shared Pathways to CoP28 project which focuses on capacity building for city diplomacy in the global governance of climate and sustainability. Jessica is currently completing her Ph.D. at Monash Sustainable Development Institute, investigating the role of diversity of decision-makers in local climate change resilience.