This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Much of the world's population will soon live in mega-cities. These are often seen as a problem, when in fact they hold the key to a sustainable future, if their resources are adequately managed and their energy harnessed for the common good.

Aromar Revi is Director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) India’s prospective independent national University for Research & Innovation addressing its challenges of urbanisation. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), co-chair of its Urban thematic group, where he leads a global campaign for an urban Sustainable Development Goal; and a Fellow of the India China Institute at the New School University. Aromar is a global expert on Sustainable Urban development, and has helped mobilise a successful international campaign for an urban Sustainable Development Goal as part of the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, which brought major global urban institutions (UN Habitat, UCLG, C-40, ICLEI, Metropolis, WUC, SDI and WEIGO) and over 200 cities and organisations together. He is one of South Asia’s leading experts on global environmental change & Climate adaptation and mitigation; a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Assessment Report 5 on Urban Areas and co-PI of a 5-year international multi-million dollar Climate Adaptation research programme that spans India and Africa.He is one of South Asia’s most experienced risk and disaster management professionals having led teams to plan & execute rehabilitation programmes for 10 major earthquake, cyclone and flood events affecting over 5 million people and is on the Advisory Board of UNISDR (the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction)'s Scientific & Technical Advisory Group & its biennial Global Assessment of Risk.

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