Building resilient societies

Dr Nancy Odendaal, an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics has been invited to present to the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 2 May.

Odendaal’s work focuses on spatial planning, as well as planning education and urban infrastructure. She has published on technology’s role in urban change, the use of technological tools during the urban planning process, and the relationship between spatial change, service delivery and networked infrastructure.

Odendaal will participate in the integration segment, “Innovative communities: leveraging technology and innovation to build sustainable and resilient societies”, during the three-day event at the UN headquarters in New York.

She will form part of the panel at a session titled “Balancing infrastructure development and sustainability”, and will cover multi-stakeholder strategies to address specific resilience challenges at a local level.

Odendaal will be joined by representatives from both UN member states and the UN system, international organisations, and a range of stakeholders from civil society, academia and the private sector.