Agenda

Cities are increasingly confronted with extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, storms and flooding. With their dense population, extensive building development, paved surfaces and lack of green spaces, they are particularly vulnerable to their consequences.

Gerhard Hauber has been a landscape architect and planner for more than 20 years. Since 1998 he has specialized in international project management, having successfully led projects in the US, Great Britain, Australia, UAE and other countries.

Moderated by Prof. Günter Müller-Czygan, Professor of Water Infrastructure and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems (inwa) at Hof University of Applied Sciences, this panel discussion will address the urgent need for urban transformation to tackle the challenges posed by extreme weather and foremost rainfall events.

Will Sarni’s keynote provides a broad overview of the challenges and solutions for resilient water supply and wastewater management in cities. Sarni's keynote explores how water can shift from being perceived as a risk to an opportunity and how we can learn from past mistakes to engineer a sustainable future.

Prof. Dr. Manfred Kleidorfer from the University of Innsbruck will present innovative approach for modelling resilience and mitigation strategies for urban flood management.

Gunnar Brüggmann, Business Development Director at Xylem Vue, will discuss focus on climate resilient strategies for drinking water supply in Rhineland-Palatinate.” The segment concludes with a Q&A session.

The panel explores strategies to enhance the resilience of vital water systems against both environmental and technological threats. Moderated by Nicolas Caradot this session addresses key questions around the nature of resilience in contrast to sustainability, the defining traits of resilient systems and various methods for understanding and simulating resilience. 

In the closing keynote Dr. Aklilu Fikresilassie will present a forward-looking vision for resilient cities in rapidly urbanizing African regions, going beyond water resilience to address broader urban challenges.