Andrés Blanco: Urban Infrastructure in the Amazon Basin, Challenges and Opportunities
The city of Manaus along the Amazon river. Ricardo Gouveia / Unsplash
Abstract
The Amazon Basin is a vast ecosystem covering nearly 40% of South America and 6.7 million square km in 9 countries. This territory is home to more than 30 million people and, contrary to common belief, a robust system of cities. In effect, nearly 70% of the Amazon Basin population is concentrated in urban areas, with large cities like Manaus, Belem, Macapa, Sao Luis, Porto Velho, Cuiaba in Brazil and Santa Cruz in Bolivia encompassing more than 20% of the urban Amazonian population. This presentation describes an ongoing effort to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with accelerated processes of urbanization and its impacts on the critical ecosystems and sustainability of the Amazonia by exploring topics such as (i) the main urban infrastructure deficits in the region, (ii) the environmental, social and economic impacts of these gaps; (iii) the main infrastructure policies and projects needed to generate sustainable cities in the region; and (iv) the connection between infrastructure, environmental and territorial policies and its implications for urban areas.
Biography
Andrés Blanco is an international development expert specializing in urban and regional planning. He received his bachelor's degree in Economics in 1999 and his master's degree in Development Planning in 2005 from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. In 2010, he received his Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from Cornell University. Currently, Blanco works in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as an Economics Principal Specialist in the Water and Sanitation Division. Blanco joined the IDB in 2012 as a Specialist in Housing and Urban Development, where he coordinated several institutional initiatives, such as the implementation of the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI) and the Cities LAB, the Urban Innovation laboratory at IDB. Prior to joining the IDB, Blanco worked as an office manager for BBVA Bank, advisor to the Secretaries of Government and Finance in Bogotá, professor of Urban Economics at the University of Florida, and consultant for several organizations like the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the United Nations Development Program, and national and local governments in Latin America and the United States.
