Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) Project: Role of Higher Education in Promoting Action William Solecki Department of Geography, Hunter College City University of New York 1

Outreach, Engagement, and UGEC Fundamental to UGEC’s role has been the ambition to bring new and emerging knowledge to a variety of audiences – Young scholar workshops – Regional meetings – Topic specific workshops – Broader conferences – Website and newsletter 2

UGEC experience - reflections Regional meeting to promote information distribution have been very successful – local stakeholders appreciate connection to local scientists Innovation comes from interdisciplinary perspectives Workshop meetings at academic institutions – catalyst for breakthroughs; workshops have been incubation sites for activities Engagement with stakeholders needs to be continually worked on. 3

Lessons Learned – Where to go from here (How to connect science to action) Integrate with emerging Future Earth protocols – Collaborative learning – Co-production of knowledge – Synergistic interaction Engage with local decision makers as well as NGOs and private sector Need to build in science-policy connections at the beginning and consistently Advance local science – local policy collaborations Higher education extension service – identify transformation pathways and accelerate transition to urban sustainability 4