The Cañada-Blanch Centre at LSE brings a new Cañada-Blanch Lecture. Dr. Lewis Dijkstra and LSE Professor Vernon Henderson will discuss about the emerging global definition of urbanisation.
What can we learn from an emerging global definition of urbanisation?
The Degree of Urbanisation was developed by six international organisations to facilitate international comparisons of urbanisation and the Sustainable Development Goals. This methodology was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in 2020. Since this endorsement, a growing number of countries has implemented the definition and a growing amount of data has become available by Degree of Urbanisation. The first part of this presentation will give a brief overview of the methodology, its development and implementation. The second part will show what we can learn from this methodology covering
1) what drives urbanisation,
2) what is its link with economic development and
3) how have cities changed over the last 50 years?
Meet our speaker
Dr. Lewis Dijkstra (@DijkstraLewis) is the Head of the Economic Analysis Sector of the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy in the European Commission. He is the editor the Cohesion Report, which analyses economic, social and environmental issues in EU regions and cities. He is also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.
He works closely with the OECD, the UN, the World Bank, the European Environmental Agency, the Joint Research Centre and Eurostat. His recent work covers topics such as a global definition of cities and rural areas, measuring transport performance, the geography of EU discontent, quality of government and gender equality.
He holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from Rutgers University, New Jersey, an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Political Science from the University of Ghent, Belgium.
Meet our discussant
Prof. J. Vernon Henderson joined the London School of Economics in September 2013 as School Professor of Economic Geography, having previously been Eastman Professor of Political Economy at Brown University, USA.
His research focuses on urbanization in developing countries, looking both within and across cities and regions. His current research looks at topics such as the evolution of the urban system in sub-Saharan Africa; factor market distortions, city size and welfare in China; spatial equilibrium models; the dynamics of investment in the built environment in cities, how colonial legacy affects sprawl and the spatial layout of cities; the link between ethno-linguistic diversity and urban concentration worldwide; and the role of geography and history in economic development.
His recent work is published in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Science and Journal of Development Economics. He has been a co-editor of the Journal of Urban Economics and the Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, and serves on a number of editorial boards. He is a founder and past President of the Urban Economics Association.
Meet our chair
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose is the Princesa de Asturias Chair and a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He is the Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre LSE. He is a former Head of the Department of Geography and Environment between 2006 and 2009. He is a past-President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) (2015-2017) and served as Vice-President of the RSAI in 2014. He was also Vice-President (2012-2013) and Secretary (2001-2005) of the European Regional Science Association.
More about this event
The Cañada-Blanch Centre at LSE is the vehicle to achieve the objective of the Fundación Cañada Blanch: developing and reinforcing the links between the United Kingdom and Spain. This is done by means of fostering cutting-edge knowledge generation and joint research projects between researchers in the United Kingdom, and at the LSE in particular, on the one hand, and Spain, on the other.
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