Aromar Revi, the Director of Indian Institute for Human Settlements – India’s first prospective National University for Research and Innovation to address challenges of urbanization through an integrated program of education, research, consulting and advisory services.
He is a renowned thought leader on urbanization, with experience in developing urban plans for two-thirds of India's states. He co-authored the urban section of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report and leaders the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN) group on Sustainable Cities.
Founded by Columbia Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the UN SDSN has local and regional networks including one in Turkey. Launched in June 2014, the UN SDSN Turkey Network is led by Boğaziçi University in collaboration with Columbia Global Centers | Turkey. It aims to serve as a platform for universities and other stakeholders for the exchange of expertise on sustainable development, to generate research, applied projects and policy proposals.
Aromar Revi's Istanbul visit focused on the global agenda for sustainable cities and its connection to Istanbul. Along with meeting Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş and Sarıyer Municipality Mayor Şükrü Genç, Revi led a roundtable with leading experts on urbanization and give a public lecture at Studio-X Istanbul (please see the video link below).
The UN SDSN Turkey network is currently formulating a long-term strategy and multi-stakeholder platform to address and support the transition to sustainability in Istanbul and across Turkey's cities, in support of the Sustainable Development Goals in connection with the post-2015 process.