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November 16 & 17, 2023
Columbia University
New York City
in partnership with
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The profound changes facing our planet are radically transforming how humanity perceives, thinks about, and addresses risk. The many perils amplified by climate change, and related anthropogenic changes to our world, can only be understood in a geographic context, with geospatial data and innovations that ground the diffuse concept of risk in the real-world lived experiences of people around the world. After all, we all live our lives in specific geographies which will face an increasing array of hazards that will impose real costs and damage to lives, property, communities, and the natural world over time. Understanding these hazards, and the risks they pose geographically and over time, has become a science, a business, and an art that we all look to for guidance and inspiration as we make decisions about our futures.
Geography2050: The Changing Map of Risk, Hazards and Finance is the tenth annual symposium of the American Geographical Society, in partnership with the Columbia Climate School, as part of a multi-year strategic dialog about the vital trends that will reshape the geography of our planet over the coming decades. This event will convene thinkers and innovators from around the world, from every sector of society, to shine a light on the ways we can collectively face the existential challenges of our time by putting geographic thinking and geospatial innovations into action as we shape our future planet. Understanding the future risks we all face, and the where, when and how they will unfold, is an inherently geographical exercise that requires that we peer into the future based on the projected magnitude, probability, and spatial distribution of these risks over the coming decades. As it takes financial resources to understand risks, to insure against risk, to invest in mitigation and adaptation strategies, and to recover from the impacts of natural hazards, this year’s Geography2050 will convene diverse communities around questions about the future of public and private finance; (re-) insurance; economic, environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG); natural capital; equity and inequity; and the financial vulnerabilities of marginalized, at risk, well resourced, and the most wealthy segments of populations around the world.
Symposium Planning Committee
Mx. Todd Barr
Dr. Joshua Campbell
Dr. Robert Chen
Dr. Jerome Dobson
Mr. Clinton Johnson
Dr. Demetrice Jordan
Dr. John Konarski
Dr. Robin Leichenko
Dr. Marie Price
Ms. Carrie Stokes
Dr. Chris Tucker
Dr. Chris Verlinden
Past Symposia
2023 - STL
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014