REP staff strengthen our research network in Latin America

Members of staff from Real Estate & Planning were busy in April strengthening and expanding our research network in Latin America. We kicked off the month in London by taking part in two workshops organised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Brazilian Funding Agencies. There were two workshops in total Healthy Urban Living and the Social Science of the Food-Water-Energy Nexus. The aim was to gather UK and Brazilian experts to help and shape the next research call under the Newton Fund programme. Dr Richard Nunes and Dr Claudia Murray from REP, attended both workshops and took the opportunity to express their views on what are the pressing topics that Brazil and the UK need to focus their research agendas on in order to increase urban and rural community resilience in the face of climate change.

In mid April, Dr Emma Street headed off to the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference in Chicago, US where she presented her paper Policy Style in Planning for Active Urban Mobility: Tracing Knowledges Between Bogota and Seville. In her presentation Dr Street questioned policy shortcomings when addressing greener methods of transport, and proposed that more proactive approaches such as those implemented in Bogota (Colombia) which were later followed by Seville (Spain) can offer innovative solutions. The ultimate question posed by Dr Street is: are we witnessing a reverse of knowledge transfer and Latin America is now exporting ideas to Europe? A little research area worth exploring!

We also received the visit of Professor Alvaro Uribe from the University of Panama, in Panama City. Professor Uribe is also Urban Planning Advisor for Panama City’s Metro project, and member of Panama’s International Centre for Sustainable Development and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Cambridge, US. He presented the transformation of Panama City through time and demonstrated the importance of the Metro project which aims to offer an affordable and sustainable mode of transport to millions of Panamanians that live in this very sprawled city. The presentation was hosted by the Walker Institute for Climate Change and chaired by Dr Murray.

Finally in the last day of the month, we had the privilege of receiving a large delegation of academics from Chile. The group was composed by rectors and directors of research from 18 Universities out of the total of 42 institutions in Chile. The visit was organised by Ms Heather McKeever from our International Office and chaired by University of Reading’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Global Engagement, Vincenzo Ramiro. Dr Claudia Murray gave a presentation of REP work in the region and discussed potential research opportunities with the University of Bio Bio, the Catholic University, University of Tarapacá, University of Valparaíso among many others. We are very excited about future opportunities for research collaboration with our Chilean partners.