Global Urban Development Update
(September 1, 2010)

It has been more than eight years since Global Urban Development was officially incorporated on December 3, 2001. On April 28, 2006, we received our official permanent designation from the United States Department of the Treasury (Internal Revenue Service) as a tax-exempt non-profit “public charity” organization, which is vital for receiving grants and donations. During November 2002, Global Urban Development was featured in a major article in National Geographic on “Megacities” that brought us a great deal of worldwide publicity. Since then, the Global Urban Development website has received three million visitors.

Our first full-scale Board of Directors meeting was held in Washington, DC on December 12, 2002. The December 12 Board meeting was followed in the evening by a wonderfully festive reception attended by more than 60 people, including many members of the Global Urban Development Advisory Board. This reception was our first anniversary and birthday party. We also held a strategic planning meeting of the Board of Directors in Washington, DC on October 5, 2002, and a special meeting of the Board of Directors in Washington, DC on April 21, 2003. We held another reception in Washington, DC for the Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and staff on April 24, 2003, and eight receptions in Prague, on May 30, June 13, October 3, October 9, and November 28, 2003, and on March 24, March 26, and April 15, 2004. We held a Board of Directors meeting in Prague on December 12, 2003, followed by a reception, and we held two Board of Directors meetings in Washington, DC, one on February 3, 2004, and another on May 20, 2004. We held a Board of Directors and Advisory Board meeting in Barcelona on September 18, 2004, and we held a Board of Directors meeting and Advisory Board reception in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2005. We held a Board of Directors meeting in Washington, DC, on July 27, 2005. We held a reception in Prague on September 22, 2005, and Board of Directors meetings in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2005, April 3, 2006, and May 5, 2006. We held a Board of Directors and Advisory Board meeting in Vancouver, Canada on June 23, 2006, a Board of Directors meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware on December 15, 2006, and a Board of Directors meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware on December 10, 2007. We held a Board of Directors and Advisory Board meeting in Nanjing, China on November 5, 2008, and we held a Board of Directors meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware on September 29, 2009. We held a Board of Directors meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 18, 2010, and we held a Board of Directors and Advisory Board meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 26, 2010.

Global Urban Development is fundamentally a worldwide network of expert thinkers and practitioners, organized into eight major program committees: Analyzing Global Urban Development, chaired by Peter Hall, Patricia McCarney, and Neal Peirce; Building Gender Equality, chaired by Nefise Bazoglu, Paola Jiron, and Wandia Seaforth; Celebrating Our Urban Heritage, chaired by Luigi Fusco Girard, Donovan Rypkema, and Belinda Yuen; Creating Jobs and Livelihoods, chaired by Vinay Lall, Janice Perlman, and Edmundo Werna; Facing the Environmental Challenge, chaired by Habiba Al Marashi, Mary Jane Ortega, and Tom Roper; Generating Sustainable Economic Development, chaired by Lawrence Bloom, Nicky Gavron, and James Nixon; Improving Global Health, chaired by Claudia Laub, Vivian Lin, and David Wilmoth; and Treating People and Communities as Assets, chaired by Lance Buhl, Marlene Fernandes, and Patrick Wakely. As of September 1, 350 members of our Global Urban Development network belong to one or more GUD program committees. Every member of the Advisory Board is welcome to join any program committee. There are also three managerial committees of the Board of Directors: Executive, Program Management, and Budget, Finance, and Audit.

We have a significant track record of accomplishment. To date Global Urban Development has completed 21 projects, has another three projects that have already been launched, and six projects that are under development. The 21 projects that have been completed are: (1) a report published by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) entitled “Productive Cities and Metropolitan Economic Strategy” based on a keynote speech and theme paper by Dr. Marc Weiss presented to the UN International Forum on Urban Poverty in Marrakech, Morocco during October 2001; (2) National Governors Association (NGA) in the U.S. on “State Policy Approaches to Promote Metropolitan Economic Strategy” (the full report is available on the NGA website); (3) a report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, on “Leveraging Private Financing for Community Development” (the full report is available on the OECD website); (4) a four-day “think tank” educational workshop and training session on Metropolitan Economic Strategy in Cape Town, South Africa, along with a report on Metropolitan Economic Strategy for the South African Cities Network (SACN), the national Department of Trade and Industry, and the national Department of Provincial and Local Government (the full report is available on the United Nations-Habitat Best Practices and Policies website). The South Africa project on Metropolitan Economic Strategy was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); (5) a report for the Center for National Policy in Washington, DC on “National Housing Policy in the U.S. for the 21^st Century”; (6) a report on “Rebuilding Post-War Iraq with Livable Communities and Democratic Local Governance” by Craig Raborn, a member of the GUD Advisory Board and former American Planning Association Congressional Fellow who recently worked for U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer. Congressman Blumenauer is Co-Chair of the Livable Communities Task Force in the U.S. House of Representatives, and a founding member of the GUD Advisory Board; (7) a report by Peter Hall, GUD Vice Chair, on “The World’s Urban Systems: A European Perspective” (the report is available on our website). This report was prepared as part of the GUD’s contribution to a European Union-funded urban policy research consortium, ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network), and Peter Hall presented his findings at a major public lecture in Prague on June 13, 2003. GUD served as a partner from 2002-2006 with Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden on an ESPON-funded research project. 1.1.3, entitled “Enlargement of the European Union and the Wider European Perspective as regards its Polycentric Spatial Structure.” This report, along 33 other reports, produced by more than 600 researchers throughout Europe, served as the basis for the ESPON Synthesis Report entitled “Territory Matters for Competitiveness and Cohesion: Facets of Regional Diversity and Potentials in Europe” published on the ESPON website (www.espon.eu) in October 2006; (8) two reports published by the Metropolitan Strategic Plan Association of Barcelona, one on “Metropolitan Regions are Dynamic Engines of Global Prosperity and Quality of Life for Everyone” and the other on “Metropolitan Governance and Strategic Planning in the U.S.” (the report on Metropolitan Governance is available on our website); (9) an international conference on “Redefining Europe: Federalism and the Union of European Democracies,” which was held in Prague during March 26-30, 2004. This conference was funded by the Association to Unite the Democracies (AUD). On May 1, 2004, 10 countries in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, including the Czech Republic, formally entered the European Union (EU), joining the 15 nations that already were full EU members. Global Urban Development co-sponsored this conference together with AUD and the British Council. Joseph Drew, Global Urban Development Advisory Board member, coordinated this effort; (10) an international conference on “Redefining Europe: European Union Enlargement One Year After,” which was held in Prague April 29-May 2, 2005. Global Urban Development co-sponsored this conference together with the Ashburn Institute and the Prague campus of the University of Northern Virginia. Joseph Drew served as the conference coordinator; (11) a report by Dr. Marc Weiss on “Metropolitan Economic Strategy and Quality of Life” for the World Life-Culture Forum sponsored by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Seoul, Korea during December, 2003; (12) a report by Dr. Marc Weiss on “Teamwork: Why Metropolitan Economic Strategy is the Key to Generating Sustainable Prosperity and Quality of Life for the World” for the Global Cities Program at the Munk Centre for International Studies of the University of Toronto, Canada; (13) publication in May 2005 of the inaugural issue of Global Urban Development Magazine, followed by publication of the second issue in March 2006, a special issue focusing on the UN Millennium Development Goals, with numerous articles from the UN Millennium Project. Global Urban Development Magazine is published annually. The November 2007 issue is a special issue on Urban Land Policies for Poverty Reduction, with articles originally produced for the 2005 World Bank International Urban Research Symposium held in Brasilia, Brazil, co-sponsored by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Mila Freire, Bruce Ferguson, Ricardo Lima, Dean Cira, and Christine Kessides served as guest editors, and Peter Hall wrote an introductory article for this special issue of GUD Magazine. Marc Weiss serves as the Executive Editor and Nancy Sedmak-Weiss serves as the Managing Editor of Global Urban Development Magazine. In 2008, GUD Magazine published two special issues: during August GUD published a special issue on the theme of “Celebrating Our Urban Heritage.” This project was initiated by the GUD program committee on Celebrating Our Urban Heritage, and the four editors are the committee’s three Co-Chairs, Luigi Fusco Girard, Donovan Rypkema, and Belinda Yuen, together with Marc Weiss. Several members of GUD’s committee on Celebrating Our Urban Heritage contributed articles to this state-of-the-art publication. Partial funding was provided by Heritage Strategies International. In November 2008 GUD published a special issue in partnership with Ashoka on “Transforming Urban Markets for the Poor through Collective Entrepreneurship.” Valeria Budinich, Bruce Ferguson, and Stephanie Schmidt served as guest editors. The theme of this special issue addresses empowering grassroots private market-based social entrepreneurship and supply chain initiatives for economic and community development, environmental sustainability, affordable housing and public health in developing country cities. On November 5 at the UN World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China, GUD and Ashoka sponsored a Networking Event on this theme and to formally launched the special November 2008 issue of GUD Magazine; (14) an international conference on Metropolitan Economic Strategy for urban regions in Asia, entitled “Investing in Asia’s Urban Future”, sponsored by the Asian Development Bank with funding provided by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), held in Metro Manila, Philippines during February 5-6, 2007. The conference was coordinated by GUD Board member Emiel Wegelin and GUD Advisory Board member Michael Lindfield, with advice and assistance from members of GUD’s Metropolitan Economic Strategy Committee; (15) producing a global, long-term research strategy for the World Future Council, written by Marc Weiss; (16) the “Future Scan” project involved interviewing key community leaders and working with major local institutions in planning for the future of the City of Lewes and its surrounding area in Sussex County, Delaware, located in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. “Future Scan” was funded by the Greater Lewes Foundation, and GUD Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Sedmak-Weiss served as the Project Director. A key focus of the work on this project is building support for a very large offshore wind energy project to be built in the Atlantic Ocean nearly 12 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. This project will supply nearly 15 percent of the state’s electricity and will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help prevent global warming; (17) GUD produced a research strategy for the newly formed World Future Council located in Hamburg, Germany and London, U.K. Marc Weiss worked with GUD Board member Bianca Jagger and GUD Advisory Board member Herbert Girardet on this project; (18) funded by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, this research project identified, described, and analyzed national policies, initiatives, and programs that are explicitly pro-metropolitan, promoting goals such as economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and social equity. These types of public policies are now being formulated and implemented in many countries throughout the world. Marc Weiss coordinated this research project with the assistance of members of GUD’s Metropolitan Economic Strategy Committee; (19) funded by the Mistra Foundation (the Government of Sweden’s Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research), this project identified the key issues, challenges, institutional capacity, innovative policies, best practices, and other major trends related to successfully improving the future of Sustainable Urban Development throughout the world, including climate change and many other vital environmental concerns. Henrik Nolmark served as the overall project coordinator, Marc Weiss and Nola-Kate Seymoar as the coordinators for the US and Canada, Belinda Yuen as the coordinator for Asia, and Wendy Sarkissian is the coordinator for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Other members of GUD’s program committee on Facing the Environmental Challenge also were involved in supporting this project on the global future of sustainable urban development; (20) this project was a spin-off from the Mistra Foundation research, and involved working with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to organize a meeting on “The Economic Benefits of Climate Action” held at Pocantico Hills, NY during November 26-28, 2007. This meeting brought together US leaders from state and local government, economic development professionals, business executives, environmental leaders, and scholars to discuss connecting actions to prevent climate change and promote urban environmental sustainability directly to strategies for generating economic prosperity and enhancing quality of life. Marc Weiss helped organize this event together with Michael Northrop of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Karl Ulrich of the University of Pennsylvania; and (21) Marc Weiss wrote a GUD report for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Government of Wales, describing and analyzing Washington, DC’s successful North of Massachusetts Avenue (‘NoMa’) sustainable economic and community development initiative, including the innovative public-private partnership financing and construction of the New York Avenue Metrorail Station, which has generated thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in new investment and rising property values over the past decade. Marc Weiss helped coordinate this initiative, during 1997-99 for the city government, and from 1999 to 2005 as Chairman of the private sector New York Avenue Metro Station Corporation.

Three other projects are already underway. The first project is the Climate Prosperity Alliance, including Sustainable Economic Development Strategies, and Climate Prosperity Media/Arts. Global Urban Development has received grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Environmental Defense Fund to support Climate Prosperity. This project is a direct outgrowth of the Pocantico Hills meeting on The Economic Benefits of Climate Action. It includes the Global Climate Prosperity Agreement in partnership with the United Nations, the Global Climate Prosperity Scoreboard in partnership with Ethical Markets Media, and the Global Coal Transition and Cleantech Investment Initiative in partnership with the Carbon War Room. It also involves the GUD publication in July 2010 of Climate Prosperity: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Development Strategies, by James Nixon and Marc Weiss, and the publication by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in July 2009 of the Climate Prosperity Handbook. In addition, GUD leaders have worked with several places engaged in Sustainable Economic Development Strategies, including Silicon Valley (California); the State of Delaware; San Antonio (Texas), Metropolitan Portland (Oregon/Washington); Southwest Florida; and Metropolitan Denver (Colorado). Many more places will be initiating Climate Prosperity Strategies during 2011, including Curitiba, Brazil. Marc Weiss is serving as Chair of the Climate Prosperity Alliance. Several GUD staff members, including Jobeda Ali, Elizabeth Autumn, Emilia Queiroga Barros, Lawrence Bloom, John Cleveland, Aser Cortines, Rachel Fleishman, Nicky Gavron, Peter Hall, Rafal Hejne, Jaime Lerner, Christine Loh, Tony Manwaring, Dan Montgomery, James Nixon, Bill Radulovich, Louise Rubacky, Nathan Sandwick, Nancy Sedmak-Weiss, Ivy Simmons, Al Victors, Ramiro Wahrhaftig, and Cynthia Wilson are working on this important initiative. On November 5, 2008 at the United Nations World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China, GUD and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund sponsored a Networking Event/Habitat Seminar on “Climate Prosperity: Sustainable Economic and Community Development.” On February 20-21, 2009, GUD organized a national Climate Prosperity strategic leadership conference in San Jose, CA, in conjunction with the public launch event for the Silicon Valley Climate Prosperity Strategy.

The second project is being organized by the GUD program committee on Improving Global Health. It is entitled: “Leaving Coal in the Ground: Building a Sustainable Economy and Ending a Global Health Crisis by 2030.” The project will be launched in an upcoming workshop at the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday evening, July 12, 2010. The main purpose of this workshop will be to engage in an open conversation about how to begin organizing a worldwide movement of health professionals and educators, public policymakers, private sector executives, non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders, grassroots activists, and global citizens, for the express purpose of legally phasing out the mining, transporting, and burning of coal worldwide by 2030. This campaign will make extensive use of communications strategies and social media in order to reach and involve millions of people throughout the world. The workshop will strongly encourage audience participation in a facilitated discussion about how to build such a successful global movement during the next few years. Participants attending the workshop will be well aware of the global public health dangers of coal, both from the extensive damage caused by mining and transporting coal, and from the hazardous pollution generated by burning coal, including the harmful effects of carbon dioxide emissions in accelerating catastrophic climate change.  They will already be familiar with the considerable evidence of coal’s excessively negative impacts on human, animal, and plant life, as well as on ecological systems vital for basic survival.  In addition, we will discuss future scenarios for global investment in energy conservation and overall resource efficiency combined with innovation in renewable energy production, storage, and distribution, and in other clean and green technologies, that will enable billions of people worldwide to thrive and prosper by “leaving coal in the ground” and building a sustainable economy.  Phasing out coal by 2030 through sustainable industrial development will increase employment, raise incomes, and enhance general living standards, while at the same time vastly improving the natural environment, global health, and international peace. Dr. Vivian Lin, IUHPE Vice President for Scientific Affairs and Co-Chair of GUD's Committee on Improving Global Health, is coordinating this project, together with her Co-Chairs and with Dr. Marc Weiss.

The third project is the Sustainable Economic Development Project, building on GUD’s successful leadership of the Climate Prosperity Alliance during the past few years. James Nixon, GUD’s President, is coordinating this project. Thus far the project consists of two major elements: 1) GUD’s Sustainable Economic Development Practice, in which GUD will work with sub-national governments and local authorities worldwide – states, provinces, regions, districts, cities, counties, towns, and villages – to strengthen their economies by improving their environments. By actively promoting innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all natural and human resources, places can increase jobs, raise incomes, grow businesses, and enhance their overall productivity and competitiveness. This approach serves as the basic framework for Sustainable Economic Development Strategies. James Nixon and Marc Weiss recently co-authored a 33-page paper, published by GUD, entitled Climate Prosperity: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Development Strategies, explaining in detail how places can engage in such environmentally friendly initiatives to generate economic, business, employment, and community development. Currently GUD is working with Sarasota County (Florida) on a Sustainable Economic Development Strategy. This initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is a strategic plan for Sarasota County to become a “Center for Innovation in Energy and Sustainability.” In engaging in the Sustainable Economic Development Practice, GUD is partnering with the Urban Sustainability Associates network. 2) a major research project on The Economics of Sustainable Urban Development, in which GUD is working in partnership with the London School of Economics, University College London, and the Greater London Authority. Lord Nicholas Stern, an LSE Professor, is servings as the main adviser for this research effort, which is being coordinated by GUD Vice Chair Nicky Gavron and by GUD Advisory Board member Dimitri Zenghelis, who teaches at LSE. Other potential partners include the World Bank, the OECD, and the Global City Indicators Facility at the University of Toronto. GUD’s program committee on Generating Sustainable Economic Development, co-chaired by Lawrence Bloom, Nicky Gavron, and James Nixon, is providing program advice and support for this project. GUD staff advising, supporting, and collaborating with James Nixon on the Sustainable Economic Development Project include Jobeda Ali, Emilia Queiroga Barros, Lawrence Bloom, John Cleveland, Aser Cortines, Nicky Gavron, Peter Hall, Rafal Hejne, Jaime Lerner, Dan Montgomery, Nancy Sedmak-Weiss, Al Victors, Ramiro Wahrhaftig, Marc Weiss, and Cynthia Wilson.

Projects that are currently under development include: (1) the Community Productivity Project for urban low-income communities in the developing and the developed world. Global Urban Development is partnering with Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), to do the project in Cape Town, South Africa; Mumbai (Bombay), India; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and London, U.K. The CPP is part of the implementation and monitoring of the UN Millennium Development Goals (an overview of the CPP is available on our website); (2) an international conference on Best Practices and the UN Millennium Development Goals, co-sponsored by the United Nations-Habitat Best Practices and Local Leadership Program and the Dubai Municipality in the United Arab Emirates, to be held in Dubai. This global conference was preceded by an Expert Group Meeting at UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya during July 26-29, 2004, followed by two Dialogues at the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum in Barcelona, Spain, September 13-17, 2004, a BLP Steering Committee meeting in Dubai during January 29-31, 2005, and a BLP Steering Committee meeting and International Conference on the Transfer of Best Practices held in Medellin, Colombia on November 28-30, 2006. These meetings focused on the next stage of the UN-Habitat Dubai Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment. Marc Weiss, GUD Chairman, helped to plan these meetings together with Wandia Seaforth, Acting Chief of the UN-Habitat Best Practices and Policies Section, and Nicholas You, Special Advisor for Strategic Planning to the Executive Director of UN-Habitat. Both Wandia Seaforth and Nicholas You are members of Global Urban Development’s Board of Directors. Global Urban Development is an official partner of the UN-Habitat Best Practices and Local Leadership Program (BLP), and Marc Weiss co-chairs the Working Group on Good Urban Policies and Enabling Legislation for the UN-Habitat BLP Steering Committee. (3) a Ph.D. program in Global Urban Development, in conjunction with several major universities around the world; (4) Urban Heritage as an Economic Asset, another worldwide project in formation with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA); (5) a global project on “Sustainable Cities Plus” led by the International Center for Sustainable Cities and funded by the Government of Canada; (6) Global Urban Development Perspectives will be an ongoing series of brief articles on key issues written by members of our global network, and distributed via email by United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Metropolis to thousands of local elected officials throughout the world. In developing GUD projects, we are working with a wide variety of partners, including the United Nations, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Shack/Slum Dwellers International, Clinton Global Initiative, International Housing Coalition (GUD is an IHC Member), Metropolis (GUD is an Associate Member of Metropolis and Marc Weiss serves on the Metropolis Commission on Financing Urban Services and Infrastructure), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, UN Millennium Project and Columbia University Earth Institute, Grassroots Women’s International Academies (GWIA), and numerous other organizations. Descriptions of the various Global Urban Development projects are available on our website.

We currently have 11 offices. In Barcelona, there is Miquel Sodupe, Senior Fellow. In Beijing, there is Jiang Mingjun, Senior Fellow; Shan Fengping, Fellow; and Sun Younian, Fellow. In Curitiba, there is Emilia Queiroga Barros, Senior Fellow; Jaime Lerner, Vice Chair; Aser Cortines, Senior Fellow; and Ramiro Wahrhaftig, Senior Fellow. In Hong Kong, there is Christine Loh, Senior Fellow; and Rachel Fleishman, Fellow. In Istanbul, there is Nefise Bazoglu, Senior Fellow. In London, there is Jobeda Ali, Fellow; Lawrence Bloom, Senior Fellow; Nicky Gavron, Vice Chair; Sir Peter Hall, Vice Chair; Rafal Hejne, Fellow; and Tony Manwaring, Senior Fellow. In Prague, there is Ludek Sykora, Senior Fellow. In the San Francisco Bay Area, there is John Cleveland, Senior Fellow; Bruce Ferguson, Senior Fellow; Dan Montgomery, Senior Fellow; James Nixon, President; Bill Radulovich, Senior Fellow; Louise Rubacky, Senior Fellow; and Al Victors, Senior Fellow. In Singapore there is Belinda Yuen, Senior Fellow; and Kwok Leong Kong, Fellow. In Sydney, there is Edward Blakely, Senior Fellow. In Washington, DC, there is Ron Armstead, Senior Fellow; Elizabeth Autumn, Senior Fellow; Pamela Hollie, Senior Fellow; Nathan Sandwick, Fellow; Nancy Sedmak-Weiss, Secretary-Treasurer; Ivy Simmons, Fellow; Marc Weiss, Chairman and CEO; and Cynthia Wilson, Fellow. In Barcelona we share offices with Metropolis at 15 Avinyo Street in the center of the city, the same building as the world headquarters of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). In Beijing we share offices with the International Eco-Safety Cooperative Organization at Room 3-91, Building 3, Jianguomenwai Diplomatic Residence Compound, No. 1 Xuishui Jie, Chaoyang District. In Curitiba we are located at the Open University for the Environment, 210 Rua Victor Benato, Pilarzinho. In Hong Kong we are located at Civic Exchange, Room 701 Hoseinee House, 69 Wyndham Street, Central. In Istanbul we are located at 13/15 Mehtap Sokak in Caddebostan. In London we are located at the Young Foundation, 18 Victoria Park Square, E2, near the Bethnal Green underground station on the Central Line. In Prague we are located in the Faculty of Science at Charles University, Albertov 6, Praha 2. In the San Francisco Bay Area we are located at Sustainable Systems, 391 63^rd Street, Oakland, CA 94618. In Singapore we are located at 32 Springleaf Crescent. In Sydney we are located at the University of Sydney in the United States Studies Center. In Washington we share offices with B & D Consulting at 1050 K Street, N.W., Suite 400.

At the Prague office, we organized a seminar series on global urban development issues. Senior Fellow Ludek Sykora worked with Marc Weiss on this project, which involved many members of the Global Urban Development Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and staff. At the first seminar, held on May 30, 2003, Dr. Emiel Wegelin, Global Urban Development Vice Chair and Director of UrbAct in Rotterdam, Netherlands, spoke about a major project he is working on to provide good and stable housing for thousands of refugees in the recently war-torn countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. At the seminar on October 3, 2003, John McIlwain discussed “A Global Perspective on Urban Housing Policy.” The following week, on October 9, 2003, Peter Calthorpe gave a public lecture on “A Global Perspective on the New Urbanism.” On November 28, 2003, Cornelia Poczka gave a seminar on "The Unification of Post-Communist Berlin: Strategic Urban Development, Community Planning, and Citizen Participation." On March 24, 2004, William Stafford presented a seminar on "A Global Mutual Learning Network for Urban Regions." On July 22, 2004, Mary del Carmen Diaz Amador presented a seminar on “Microfinance and Microenterprise in Mexico.” On September 29, 2004, Margaret Caust presented a seminar on “Creating the City of Ideas in Adelaide, Australia.” On September 30, 2004, Arthur Alderson presented a seminar on “The Impacts of Globalization on the World City System in the 21^st Century.” On October 12, 2004, Christopher Leinberger presented a seminar on “Back to the Future: Progressive Development Returns to America and the Lessons for Europe.” Peter Calthorpe and Margaret Caust are members of Global Urban Development’s Board of Directors. Arthur Alderson, Mary del Carmen Diaz Amador, Christopher Leinberger, John McIlwain, Cornelia Poczka, and William Stafford are members of the Global Urban Development Advisory Board. All of the lectures and seminars were followed by a reception.

Global Urban Development Events

October 5, 2002 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

December 12, 2002 GUD Board of Directors Meeting and Reception in Washington, DC

April 21, 2003 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

April 24, 2003 GUD Reception in Washington, DC

May 30, 2003 Seminar by Dr. Emiel Wegelin and Reception in Prague

June 13-14, 2003 Meeting of European Union ESPON Research Consortium in Prague hosted by GUD

June 13, 2003 Public Lecture by Sir Peter Hall and Reception in Prague

October 3, 2003 Seminar by John McIlwain and Reception in Prague

October 9, 2003 Public Lecture by Peter Calthorpe and Reception in Prague

November 28, 2003 Seminar by Cornelia Poczka and Reception in Prague

December 12, 2003 GUD Board of Directors Meeting and Reception in Prague

February 3, 2004 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

March 24, 2004 Seminar by William Stafford and Reception in Prague

March 26-30, 2004 Conference on Redefining Europe (Federalism and the Union of European Democracies) in Prague

March 26, 2004 GUD Reception in Prague

April 15, 2004 GUD Reception in Prague

May 20, 2004 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

July 22, 2004 Seminar by Mary del Carmen Diaz Amador and Reception in Prague

September 13-17, 2004 International Meeting on Good Urban Policies and Enabling Legislation (United Nations-Habitat World Urban Forum) in Barcelona, Spain

September 18, 2004 GUD Board of Directors and Advisory Board Meeting at the UN World Urban Forum, Barcelona, Spain

September 29, 2004 Seminar by Margaret Caust and Reception in Prague

September 30, 2004 Seminar by Art Alderson and Reception in Prague

October 12, 2004 Seminar by Christopher Leinberger and Reception in Prague

February 10, 2005 GUD Board of Directors Meeting and Reception in Washington, DC

April 29-May 2, 2005 Conference on Redefining Europe (European Union Enlargement One Year After) in Prague

May 30, 2005 GUD Advisory Board Meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden

June 1, 2005 GUD Meeting on Celebrating Our Urban Heritage in Gothenburg, Sweden

June 28, 2005 GUD Meeting on Celebrating Our Urban Heritage in Naples, Italy

July 27, 2005 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

September 22, 2005 GUD Reception in Prague

October 21, 2005 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

April 3, 2006 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

May 5, 2006 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Washington, DC

June 23, 2006 GUD Board of Directors and Advisory Board Meeting at the UN World Urban Forum, Vancouver, Canada

December 15, 2006 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware

September 10, 2007 GUD Meeting on the Mistra Foundation Project and Reception in Washington, DC

November 26-28, 2007 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund meeting on “The Economic Benefits of Climate Action” at the RBF Conference Center, Pocantico Hills, NY

December 10, 2007 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware

March 6, 2008 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund Event on “Climate Prosperity and Renewable Energy” at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, Washington, DC

July 7-8, 2008 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund strategic leadership meeting of Climate Prosperity at the RBF Conference Center, Pocantico Hills, NY

September 26, 2008 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund strategic leadership meeting of Climate Prosperity, Washington, DC

November 5, 2008 GUD and Ashoka Foundation Networking Event on “Transforming Urban Markets for the Poor through Entrepreneurship” at the UN World Urban Forum, Nanjing, China

November 5, 2008 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund Networking Event on “Climate Prosperity: Sustainable Economic and Community Development” at the UN World Urban Forum, Nanjing, China

November 5, 2008 GUD Board of Directors and Advisory Board Meeting at the UN World Urban Forum, Nanjing, China

February 4, 2009 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund seminar on “Climate Prosperity: Democratic Capitalism with a Twist” at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, Washington, DC

February 20-21, 2009 GUD and Rockefeller Brothers Fund strategic leadership meeting of Climate Prosperity, and public launch of the Silicon Valley Climate Prosperity Strategy, San Jose, CA

September 29, 2009 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware

March 18, 2010 GUD Board of Directors Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March 26, 2010 GUD Board of Directors and Advisory Board Meeting at the UN World Urban Forum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

July 12, 2010 GUD, Climate Prosperity Alliance (CPA), and International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) Workshop on “Leaving Coal in the Ground: Building a Sustainable Economy and Ending a Global Health Crisis by 2030” at the IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion, Geneva, Switzerland

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