Event Details
For the first time in history, most of the world's inhabitants live in cities. No country illustrates urbanization's promise and peril better than Turkey, which has experienced one of the fastest rates of urbanization in the world. It has transformed from an agrarian nation, with 75 percent of its people living in rural areas, to an urban one; more than 75 percent of its inhabitants now lives in cities. Istanbul's population has grown more than tenfold since 1950, resulting in the highest population density in Europe. Christopher Berry, AM'98, PhD'02, will discuss these trends and the policy challenges facing rapidly urbanizing nations, focusing on issues such as the effect of big data and "smart city" technologies on urban policy and planning, the challenges of urban infrastructure and sustainability, and innovations in megacity governance.
Christopher R. Berry , AM'98, PhD'02, an associate professor at Chicago Harris, is the director of the Center for Municipal Finance, academic director of the Center for Data Science and Public Policy, and codirector of the Master of Science Program in Computational Analysis and Public Policy at the University of Chicago. His research interests include metropolitan governance and politics, municipal finance, and intergovernmental relations. Berry is the author of Imperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments (Cambridge UP, 2010), winner of the Best Book Award in Urban Politics from the American Political Science Association.
Program
7:00 PM-8:00 PM: Registration and reception
8:00 PM-9:30 PM: Presentation and discussion
Speaker Profiles
Christopher Berry (Speaker)
Christopher R. Berry, an associate professor in the Harris School, is director of the Center for Municipal Finance and faculty director of the Master of Science Program in Computational Analysis and Public Policy. His research interests include metropolitan governance, the politics of public finance, and intergovernmental fiscal relations. Berry is the author of Imperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments (Cambridge UP, 2010), winner of the Best Book Award in Urban Politics from the American Political Science Association, and many other scholarly publications. For access to Professor Berry's writings, please visit his research web page.
Prior to joining Chicago Harris, Berry was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University in the Department of Government's Program on Education Policy and Governance. He received his BA from Vassar College, Master of Regional Planning (MRP) from Cornell University, and PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Professor Berry is also active in community development and was formerly a director in the MetroEdge division of ShoreBank, which was America's oldest and largest community development financial institution.