General
Welcome to SGT lecture series of State of the World and Development 2019!
This lecture series gives and introduction to the state of the world and development. It highlights the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development and explores the dilemma of development from different perspectives. Lecture series is open for all. For those aiming to gain 2 credits; register in weboodi. 80% attendance & assignment required. See course Syllabus for further information.
- Mondays & Wednesdays 10-12
- Period: I *First lecture on Monday 16 September 2019
- 2 ECTS (pass/fail)
- 10 guest lectures & assignment
LECTURES 2019
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Monday 16 Sep | 10-12 | Lecture Hall 216 (Otakaari 4)
LECTURE 1 - DILEMMA OF DEVELOPMENT, Prof. Olli Varis, Aalto ENG, Water & Development Research Group
Olli Varis is professor of Water Resources Management with a focus on water, environment and development research and consultation. His research concentrates on sustainable development and water resources management in developing and emerging economies, particularly in Asia. In his particular interest are global water resources and their interrelations to sectors such as agriculture and energy, and in relation to drivers such as climate change, urbanization, poverty, environment and economic development. Prof. Varis has been active in several international organizations including UNESCO, WMO, IWRA (Vice President 2007-2009), IWA, IIASA and UNU/WIDER. He was the Vice Dean of Reseach and Innovation of Aalto School of Engineering in 2013-2018, Counsellor at the Supreme Administrational Court of Finland in 2006-2015, and he is Distinguished Adjunct Professor at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
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Wednesday 18 Sep | 10-12 | Lecture Hall U1 (Otakaari 1)
LECTURE 2 - HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES AFTER DISASTERS, Prof. Ian Davis, Oxford Brookes University
Ian Davis is Visiting Professor in Copenhagen, Oxford Brookes, Lund and Kyoto Universities in Disaster Risk Management. Davis trained as an architect, but he has had a varied career in architectural practice and education as well as the management and recovery from disasters.
From 1972 he embarked on PhD research in UCL on Shelter following Disaster. This led to Ian writing the first book on the subject in 1978. This work expanded into research and consultancy for various NGO’s, Governments and UN Agencies working in over 45 countries recovering from natural disasters. He has written, co-authored or edited over 20 books on Disaster Planning. In 1996 he was awarded the United Nations Sasakawa Award for his contribution to International Disaster Prevention.
His interests include disaster risk reduction, adaptation to climate change, shelter and settlements and disaster recovery. In 2016 he co-authored with David Alexander: Recovery from Disaster. Currently he is Visiting Professor in Kyoto, Lund, Oxford Brookes Universities and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Europe.
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Monday 23 Sep | 10-12 | Lecture Hall 216 (Otakaari 4)
LECTURE 3 - CLIMATE CHANGE, Philipp Schmidt-Thomé, GTK
Dr. Philipp Schmidt-Thomé is a researcher and Head of International Cooperation at the Geological Survey of Finland, GTK.
Philipp is a German geographer (MSc. with minor subjects in geology and soil science) and a postgraduate in hydro-geology and engineering geology. He came to the Geological Survey of Finland in 1998. He was born in El Salvador, raised in Germany, Sudan and Colombia and completed parts of his studies in Chile and Thailand. Apart from Aalto University he actively lectures for instance in the University of Alicante in Spain.
Intergovernmental panel for climate change (IPCC)
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Wednesday 25 Sep | 10-12 | Lecture Hall U1 (Otakaari 1)
LECTURE 4 - DEVELOPMENT POLICY & GLOBAL GOALS, Suvi Virkkunen, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Ms. Suvi Virkkunen works as a Senior Adviser for the department for development policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
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Monday 30 Sep | 10-12 | Lecture Hall 216 (Otakaari 4)
LECTURE 5 - PBL MUMBAI, Aalto Global Impact & alumni students
This lecture presents the final outcomes from a summer workshop in Mumbai, India. The summer workshop was organized as part of the PBL South Asia project coordinated by Aalto Global Impact.
SGT & IoC Studios application period starts!
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Wednesday 2 Oct |10-12 | Lecture Hall R2 (Rakentajanaukio 4)
LECTURE 6 - THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, Virpi Stucki, UNIDO
Virpi Stucki is a Business Partnership Officer at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and coordinates UNIDO’s partnerships with business firms and related private sector organizations such as associations and foundations in donor and recipient countries. She also develops projects on youth industrial skills development in collaboration with the private sector following Public Private Development Partnership (PPDP) –model. In this relation, Ms. Stucki manages a platform called UNIDO’s Learning and Knowledge Development Facility (LKDF), which promotes industrial skills development among young people in emerging economies.
Prior to UNIDO, Ms. Stucki worked at the Royal Dutch Shell, the International Union for Conservation for Nature (IUCN) and Aalto University School of Engineering.
Virpi Stucki holds a PhD in environmental and civil engineering.
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Monday 7 Oct | 10-12 | Lecture Hall 216 (Otakaari 4)
LECTURE 7 - UNTIL Razi Latif, UN Technology Innovation Labs (UNTILabs)
Razi Latif is currently the Lab Manager at the UN's Innovation and Technology Lab (UNTIL) at AGrid at Aalto University. UNTIL's goal is to seek out the best tech & innovation Finland has to offer, and apply this to developing country challenges. Previously Razi worked for the UK Government's Department for International Development, serving in Afghanistan & Pakistan, and leading the UK's work around Climate Change, Conflict, Security and Migration. He has also worked for the UN in Asia and Africa, and for the EU in east Africa. Razi started his career as a volunteer at the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
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Wednesday 9 Oct| 10-12 | Lecture Hall U1 (Otakaari 1)
LECTURE 8 - HOW PUBLIC DEMAND FOR CLEAN AIR IS RESHAPING ENERGY AND EMISSIONS TRENDS, Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace Finland
Myllyvirta has worked for the past six years as an energy and air pollution analyst covering air pollution issues across Asia. His research covers sources, drivers and health impacts of air pollution. Myllyvirta has published studies on the health impacts of coal-fired power generation in Southeast, South and East Asia, Europe, Turkey and South Africa. He has also done research on China's coal consumption and CO2 trends and the overcapacity situation in coal-fired power and steel industry. Myllyvirta has degrees in economics from Helsinki University and in environmental science from University of Jyvaskylä.
The lecture focuses on how the public demand for clean air is reshaping energy and emissions trends. Most of the growth in global energy demand and fossil fuel demand is taking place in countries that suffer from dangerous levels of air pollution. Growing awareness, an emerging health-conscious middle class and affordable air quality monitoring devices are leading to strengthening public demand for clean air across emerging Asia and beyond. Sustainable energy and transport are at the heart of solving the air pollution crisis and addressing global climate change. The lecture will present examples of research and policy debates that highlight the opportunities for tacking these two problems.
Pre-reading
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Koplitz, Jacob, Myllyvirta and Sulprizio 2017: Burden of Disease from Rising Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions in Southeast Asia. Environmental Science & Technology. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b03731
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Defeating the Airpocalypse: 13 solutions for clean air assessed. Greenpeace India. http://www.greenpeace.org/archive-india/Global/india/2018/Indias_Source_Apportionment_Results_Briefing_May2018.pdf
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The End of China's Coal Boom. Greenpeace East Asia 2014. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/briefings/climate/2014/The-End-of-Chinas-Coal-Boom.pdf
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Monday 14 Oct | 10-12 | Lecture Hall 216 (Otakaari 4)
LECTURE 9 - VIOLENCE AND INEQUALITY, Urban scenarios in Latin America, Florencia Quesada, University of Helsinki
Florencia Quesada is a research fellow in the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki (UH). She is also Adjunct Professor in Latin American Studies and in Development Studies (2015-2018)(UH). She teaches courses in contemporary urban Latin America, urban cultural and architectural history, sustainable tourism, and violence and insecurity in Central America. >> more at UH webpages
Dr. Quesada has carried out primary research in Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, and in archives in France, Spain, and the United States. She has more than twenty years of experience as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Costa Rica, at the Department of Education at the Museums of the Central Bank of Costa Rica and in the past 15 years at the University of Helsinki. Quesada has published on Central American urban cultural and architectural history, planning and sustainable tourism.
Many Latin American cities are considered today among the most dangerous in the world. With a comparative perspective, the main goal of the lecture is to give a general overview of the main causes and consequences of the high rates of criminal violence in some selected Latin American cities. At the same time, we will examine the different types of violence, the citizens' perceptions and fears and the impact in their daily life. The City of Guatemala will be particularly examined, based on ethnographic analysis in two risk communities.
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Wednesday 16 Oct | 10-12 | Lecture Hall U1 (Otakaari 1)
LECTURE 10 - THE WATER WE EAT! Elina Lehikoinen, Water and Development Research Group (Aalto University)
Elina Lehikoinen is a doctoral student in the Water and Development Research Group (https://wdrg.aalto.fi/), Aalto University. She has her background in the civil and water engineering but the recent research focuses on the usage of natural resources in the food system. More precisely - where and what kind of food should be produced in order to respond to the demand for sustainable food production.
The lecture will ask questions, such as "What if all the water was equally divided between countries?" or "What if all the food was equally distributed between everyone?". These questions are approached by studying how the food virtually moves water (virtual water) from one country to another and what opportunities this will open for global food security.
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This course is compulsory for all Creative Sustainability Master's students
This course is prerequisite for the following courses:
- WAT-E2060 Sustainable Built Environment (5 cr, period II)
- WAT-E2070 Sustainable Global Technologies (SGT) Studio (10 cr, periods III-V)
- ARK-E2007 Interplay of Cultures, Studio (10 cr, periods III-V)
Course is also highly recommended for:
- 21E10000 - How to change the world: Innovating toward sustainability
- JOIN-E7005 - IDBM Industry Project (the developing country(PBL case)