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Uncertainty and Cities in 2026: Tariffs, Climate Change, and Politics
The substantive focus of this conference is “Uncertainty and Cities in 2026: Tariffs, Climate Change, and Politics” and will include perspectives from different international, national, and local institutions on the global economy and cities, and particularly the impact of the tariffs on urban economies and local governments in both the Global South and Industrialized Economies, the challenges of climate change, and the new politics of urban uncertainty and precarity. The economics and politics of 2025-2026 have forcefully demonstrated the dependence of cities on global and national macro-economic forces.
Background research on this subject has been developed by a team of faculty and doctoral students at The New School University in New York and has benefitted from discussions with members of URBS.TIC, United Nations Habitat, the Lincoln Institute on Land Policy, The Japan International Cooperation Agency, and scholars from around the world.
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April 13, 2026
66 W. 12th Street, Room A404, The New School
10 am: Welcome
Joel Towers, President of The New School: The Context of Uncertainty
Anaclaudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN Habitat, and Undersecretary-General of the United Nations (Video Remarks)
Fernando Carrion Mena, Director, URBS.TIC, Former Director of City Planning, City of Quito, Ecuador, and Professor at FLACSO
Michael Cohen, Director of the Doctoral Program in Public and Urban Policy and Co-Director, Observatory on Latin America, The New School
10:40 am – 12:30 pm Session I: The New Economic Uncertainty: Tariffs and The Urban Economy
Moderator:
Alexander Aleinikoff, Executive Dean, New School for Social Research
Lecture:
Ana Swanson, The New York Times
Discussants:
William Milberg, Professor of Economics, The New School
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs, The New School
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm: Lunch Break
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm Session II: Climate Change and the New Roles of Cities
Moderator:
Lara Penin, Vice President for Urban Initiatives, The New School
Lecture:
Leonardo Helland Figueroa, Associate Professor, Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management, The New School
Discussant:
Belén Pérez Pérez, University of Granada
3:15 pm – 3:45 pm: Coffee Break
3:45 pm – 5:00 pm Session III: Understanding Local Impacts: Finance, Land, and Housing
Moderator:
Mario Sebastian Rodriguez, URBS.TIC and FLACSO, Ecuador
Presenters:
Eunice Offei, The New School
Charli Goodlet, The New School
Discussants:
Enrique Silva, Chief Program Officer, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
María Mercedes di Virgilio, Professor of Urban Studies, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Session IV: The Politics of Precarity
Lecture:
Fernando Carrion Mena, Director, URBS.TIC, Former Director of City Planning, City of Quito, Ecuador, and Professor at FLACSO
Moderator:
David Wallace-Wells, Columnist, New York Times
April 14, 2026
66 W. 12th, Room A407, The New School
10:00 am – 12:00 pm Session V: Identifying A New Agenda for Urban Policy
Moderator:
Margarita Gutman, Co-Director, Observatory on Latin America, Professor Emerita, The New School
Lecture:
Ian Klaus, Director, Carnegie Institution for International Peace, Palo Alto, California, Former US Lead Negotiator, UN Habitat III, 2016
Discussants:
Patricia Ramirez Kuri, President, Instituto de Planeacion Democratica y Prospectiva, Mexico City, and Professor of Sociology, UNAM
Marcelo Corti, Director Café de Ciudades and Professor, School of Architecture, University of Cordoba, Argentina
12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Session VI: Identifying A New Agenda for Urban Research
Moderator:
Luis Herrera-Favela, Program Management Officer, Human Settlements from the UN-Habitat Canada Office
Discussants:
Mariana Alegre, Loeb Fellow, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and Director, Como Vamos, Lima, Peru
Jesús M. González-Pérez, Professor of Geography, Director of the Chair of Urban Studies, University of the Balearic Islands (UIB)
1:15 pm – 1:30 pm Session VIII: Summary and Closing
Moderator:
Emilia Nicole Silva Arias, URBS.TIC and FLACSO Ecuador
Speakers:
Fernando Carrion Mena, Director, URBS.TIC, Former Director of City Planning, City of Quito, Ecuador, and Professor at FLACSO
Michael Cohen, Director of the Doctoral Program in Public and Urban Policy and Co-Director, Observatory on Latin America, The New School
This event is part of the New School for Social Research Festival of Ideas. Learn more HERE.
Presented by The Observatory on Latin America and URBS.TIC at The New School for Social Research and the Office of University Initiatives at The New School.