Panel 4: Climate-proofing Infrastructure: Smart Cities & Adopting Technology
Despite the fact that exports from Latin America and the Caribbean countries depend mainly on farming and mining, more than two-thirds of their gross national product comes from cities, home to services and industry. Although Latin America has huge expanses of territory, nowhere else has achieved this level of urbanisation. Latin America and the Caribbean stands to be the world’s first Climate-Smart region; a remarkable achievement given its rapid urbanisation rates among the developing world. This offers a wealth of opportunities to achieve sustainable resilience and presents a highly favourable and attractive global position. However, old urban infrastructure needs to be renewed whilst offering an enviable freedom to adopt new technologies. Panellists will discuss how such opportunities can be identified and the challenges of upscaling adoption across the region, whilst maintaining integrity, value and the longevity of community-based solutions.
Sustainable Emerging Cities can no doubt benefit from 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies such as autonomous vehicles & drones, 3D printing, advanced materials, IoT, biotechnology and of course, AI reshaping urban sectors such as transport, energy, waste, water, and buildings. How can such opportunities be harnessed to increase economic productivity & wellbeing whilst reducing impact and accounting for a local skills need?