Megacity's solutions facing Climate change

Megacities are today at the center of global production and the social and political transformation of contemporary societies. Their role as important nodes of global networks has expanded. Tertiary activities have developed in poles dedicated to service companies, while industrial production has tended to develop in new strategic centers for the mobilization of specific products. Thus, megacities ended up representing distinct, often sprawling regional spatial formations, after undergoing a major transformation brought about by this new globalized world economy. Their organization today obeys a principle of polycentrism, their center being extended by new urban extensions linking different poles of centrality capable of attracting economic, social, and political activities. According to the last IPCC report of 2021, the year 2020 has been one of the three warmest years ever recorded. Megacities, despite their heterogenous climates, are strongly exposed to climate change and meteorological events as they concentrate large concentration of population are in areas at risks (sea rising, drought, flooding, hurricanes, heat islands, soil…). The concentration of population, converging with weak urban planning and social policies or the poor integration of climate stakes in urban planning and political agendas, lead to increasing vulnerabilities of megacities. Furthermore, rural climate emigration toward megacities is a reality. Large amount of population come from the rural migrations due to climate change, increasing the part of inhabitants in megacities most vulnerable to climate change. It became a vicus circle of impoverishment and vulnerabilities, facing a coupled challenge of urban mitigation and resilience to climate change linked to the need of social inclusion and equalities. The experiences of megacities and the lever activated toward those challenges can be inspirational for other megacities. The systemic impact of climate change is increasingly striking urban organization, governance, and social living condition in megacities. Therefore, urban planning for megacities needs to integrate concomitant strategies of planning toward the objectives of mitigation and of resilience to climate change. Then, what tools can be enforced or implemented? How to find resources to plan climate resilience and mitigation? How to ensure sustainability and resilience toward climate migrants and against the impoverishment of poor urban areas which are more vulnerable? How to go from commitments to action and how to integrate all stakeholders? This event aims to bring together local authorities and megacities networks in order to make them exchange their best practices on planning climate mitigation and resilience. It is urgent for national, local authorities, private sectors, civil society, to commit for planning resilience in megacities, to take commitments and actions.