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From Global to Local: Urban Communities in Flux

As the 21st century unfolds, urban centers continue to experience new and unexpected challenges, while historical ones remain. Pandemics, protests, and restructuring raise new questions about the future of urban centers. We are witnessing multiple globalisms as cities and urbanized regions are transformed by unprecedented shifts in work, security, and immigration. And, while technology continues to reshape our concept of place, recent constraints on human interactions (e.g., global pandemic) remind us of the basic preference for direct contact, and the importance of social connections to family, friends, communities and neighborhoods. Many urban places are redefining themselves as nodes of entertainment, tourism, creative industries, and technology.  As they transform, questions emerge surrounding their local relevance, uneven opportunity structures, and environmental impacts. Uneven patterns of development continue from the global to the metropolitan level. From quality of life to basic needs, urban centers are in transition. Our biggest challenge: how do we direct the process of change to yield equitable and sustainable outcomes?