Decarbonization, zero carbon emission must be completed by 2050 to maintain the Earth livable for humans. Most humans, probably 2 out of 3, will be urbanite by that time. It largely depends on cities if the sustainable development goals will be reached or not. However real mechanisms such as land rent, social forces, and power relations remain hidden by the current rhetoric of sustainable development by international organizations. Among cities, the global North may play a role through new forms of urban deagglomeration, new styles of consumption, green jobs and smart mobility based on digital economy. However in the Horizon 2050 the Souths of the World’s cities will be determinant. It is a matter of controlling emissions due to the urban explosion, regulating informal activities, avoiding polluting transport in megacities. But it is also a matter of fostering education and sociability, reducing social and ethnic injustice, helping families, responding to youths’ propensity for mobility and migration.

The School will ask to 10 cities of the Souths of the world, Accra (Ghana), Bangalore (India), Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Hong Kong (China), Marrakech (Morocco), Naples (Italy), Pune (India), Santiago (Chile), Toulouse (France), to develop a forecast of “urban trends” in 2050 (energy, demography, youths, social development, economy, education, health, ecology, migration) based on a questionnaire to be filled by researchers, and the collection of case studies, Phd theses, interviews etc. The final report will be discussed during the School sessions in November 2021 with representatives of International Organizations.

With the support of: