Charting new territories in an urbanised world

It really is an urban jungle out there. More and more of us are emigrating to the world’s cities and towns, and this will come with a range of social and environmental challenges.

Karen Seto is one of the world's leading experts on contemporary urbanization and global environmental change. The Yale-based Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science studies how this rapid and growing urbanization will affect the planet, from biodiversity loss and land cover change, to diets and human well-being.

“I’m particularly interested in how climate change and other global environmental changes will affect the long-term habitability of urban areas,” she says. “Will they be livable, and how can we ensure adequate living conditions for all?”

Pushing the envelope

It’s exactly this kind of cutting edge inter- and transdisciplinary research that is crucial to help create a sustainable urban future, which is why Seto’s position on the international science advisory board (ISAC) is welcomed by all at the centre.

Seto is a fan of the centre’s approach and believes its research is consistently pushing the envelope and charting new territory on important issues.

Beyond the Global North bubble

When it comes to her role in the science advisory council, Seto looks to her impressive experience outside the sustainability bubble of the Global North.

“I hope my geographic perspective and many years of research experience in Asia will help the SRC strategize directions forward,” she says.

She has worked in India and China for 20+ years, pioneering methods to reconstruct urban land use with satellite imagery and developing novel methods to forecast urban expansion. We now know that many solutions developed for a particular system or place can have unintended consequences elsewhere or at a later point in time.

“The centre is poised to do path breaking work on such cross-boundary issues," says Seto.

“Creating solutions that do not result in these “leakages” is a key sustainability challenge and one where I’m confident the SRC can make an impact”.

A serious challenge

But it's not all rosy in today’s anti-science and alternative facts reality. Making progress towards sustainability, battling climate change, and eradicating poverty and disease means making decisions based on science, she says.

“This is a serious political and cultural challenge that SRC and other leading sustainability institutions must urgently address. If not, the science will have very little or limited uptake”.

It’s time to live up to the challenge.