SMU has partnered with four global universities to launch the Global Alliance on Sustainable Urban Societies, namely Boston University in the US, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Melbourne in Australia, and the University of Toronto in Canada. The partnership was announced at the SMU City Dialogues conference in Vienna on 2 July 2025, which brought together global academics, government officials and corporates to discuss how cities can resist various shocks, from climate change to financial crises. The collaboration aims to study how people live in and shape cities, examining the ways they move through and transform urban spaces.
SMU Professor of Geography and Director of SMU’s Urban Institute Orlando Woods said that the real motivation for the alliance is to put humans first and recognise that people are the engines of cities and sustainability. Prof Woods noted that the effect of heat stress on the human body is well studied, but not so much on how rising temperatures affect people’s mental health and emotions. The one-day SMU City Dialogues is a partner event of the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum that will be held in Vienna on 3-4 July. The upcoming forum serves as a platform for mayors and city leaders to discuss pressing urban challenges and share solutions.
