Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. It is clear that the development of urban areas holds the key to many of the challenges faced in interactions with environmental change, raising issues that have not yet received adequate attention. The IHDP Urbanization and Global Environmental Change project (UGEC) seeks to provide a better understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between global environmental change (GEC) and urbanization at the local, regional and global scales through an innovative conceptual and methodological framework. To capture the benefits of urbanization and mitigate as well as adapt to negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts, a stronger collaboration between academics, political decision-makers and practitioners is encouraged.

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