Urban development and governance: risks and opportunities, learning from other cities

This expert conference of the ForUm Network, which is ccomposed of members from various academic and non-academic institutions from varied disciplines and expertise on Geography and Urban Studies in Southeast Asia and Germany, will take place at Cebu and Cagayan de Oro Cities in the Philippines. The group has been meeting twice a year since 2007 which started at the Institute of Geography in the University of Cologne, Germany and has moved to different countries in Southeast Asia. This forthcoming conference in the Philippines will be hosted by Capitol University, Xavier University, the National Economic and Development Agency (Region 7), and the Local Government of Cagayan de Oro City.

The conference seeks to catalyze local-regional-global discussions on the inter and intra-relation of urban networks in the preparation, planning and implementation of urban risk management by bringing-in together practitioners, implementers and academicians to critically explore present experiences and concepts with the hope that comparative perspectives when shared and learned will catalyze better local and regional urban networks in risk management strategies in Southeast Asia. Thus, this conference is an exciting opportunity for development practitioners, planners, academicians, and local government executives to engage with colleagues and experts from Southeast Asia and Germany in confronting the broad range of issues surrounding urban networks in relation to environmental risk management.

The Conference Committee is proud to showcase the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Cebu, including their rich urban cultural heritage, to local and international participants.