Conference examines global trends affecting major cities

Dozens of globally minded University professors, staff members and students packed the Faculty Club Friday to participate in the third annual Provost's Conference on International Education and Research. This year's conference focused on "The Urban Agenda: The Effects of Globalization on Major Cities." "The conference provided a significant opportunity to examine a topic of immediate interest to Penn, situated as we are in the middle of one of the major cities in the U.S.A.," said Joyce Randolph, director of the Office of International Programs. Conference participants examined urban affairs from an international perspective, discussing the issues within the context of global factors, trends and comparisons. Speakers -- which included selected professors from Penn as well as guest speakers from Harvard and Columbia universities -- suggested that globalization may be creating "mega-cities" that play a unique and central role in the world economy. Harvard Professor William Alonso analyzed the rise of the mega-city -- a large city with a major international influence -- as a participant in the world economy and discussed how its direct role in international politics weakens the power of regional and national governments. And at a panel discussion on economic development, participants discussed the global privatization of formerly public services such as waste disposal and social welfare. The panelists -- including Penn Economics and Finance Professor Robert Inman -- examined the relationship between politics and the control of government functions, which are increasingly being performed by private international corporations. "I thought [Friday's] conference was very successful," Provost Stanley Chodorow said. "The question 'What is the effect of globalization on major cities?' is a real question -- that is, we don't really know what the answer is. I thought that we began to shape a research agenda as we listened to and discussed the talks." Chodorow created the annual conference two years ago in an attempt to encourage cross-school collaboration on a central theme. At the conferences, participants share information about their international activities and plans, which leads to further collaboration and improvements in the programs. And Chodorow noted that the conferences focus on the international aspect of the six University initiatives of the Agenda for Excellence. Last year's conference -- which dealt with life sciences, health economics and health policy -- led to the formation of the International Health Forum and the Africa Health Interest Group. As a follow-up event to Friday's discussion on the urban agenda, the Undergraduate Assembly and the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education are sponsoring a student conference April 4 on the University's role in West Philadelphia. Participants at that forum -- entitled "A Conference on Penn's Role in West Philadelphia: The Creation, Dissemination, and Application of Knowledge" -- will examine the role of the community in the University's academic missions of research, teaching and action. "The conference is the perfect way to follow through on this issue by realizing that in addition to the global perspective, we should examine what is going on around us," said SCUE Chairperson and College junior Ari Silverman, who spoke at Friday's conference.