2016 International Roundtable

23rd Annual International Roundtable

Sustainable cities: sharing habitat, building resiliency

September 29, 30; October 1, 2016

The 2016 International Roundtable will seek to cultivate sustainability as a critical-thinking framework to understand and address existing and emerging social, environmental, and economic challenges in urban areas across the globe. These challenges result from the consequences of industrial urbanization (including critical levels of habitat depletion, pollution, and climate change), persistent income inequality, and the projected increase in human population over the next several decades. The International Roundtable will examine these issues through three broad questions that aim to integrate perspectives from across the liberal arts.

1. What kinds of urban habitats support thriving human and non-human populations?
2. What systems of physical and socio-economic infrastructure build resilient cities to endure and to serve populations in an uncertain future?
3. How can new economic models (e.g., sharing, social, and ecological) create more inclusive and equitable models of urban living that balance the needs of today’s residents with those of future residents?

It is our hope that International Roundtable participants (Macalester students, faculty, staff, and community members) will be better positioned to:

1. Examine how sustainability frameworks connect with individual and institutional values and worldviews
2. Imagine a set of programs that bring together Macalester’s diverse communities to help define, model and support urban sustainability locally and globally in the 21st century
3. Foster new alliances and deepen existing relationships with local leaders and innovative organizations dedicated to urban sustainability

Co-chairs: Roopali Phadke and Dan Trudeau

Please email [email protected] with any questions.