In a message to the Awards Gala of the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization: Abu-Ghazaleh Calls for Effective Use of Technology to Meet 21st Century Global Challenges

New York - The New York -based Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization(CSU) held its Annual  Awards Gala virtually on March 18, 2021 with remote  participation by Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh, Chairman of the CSU Advisory Board; Mrs. Maimounah Sharif, Executive Director; as well other senior U.N. officials and many well-known architects, urban planners, designers, engineers and academics from  around the world.

In his message to the event Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh praised  the  vibrancy  and dynamism of the CSU as a global network of urban professionals and policy-makers working together to support the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable  Development Goal 11 for promoting urban sustainability.

He paid warm tribute to the CSU President, Professor Lance J. Brown and Aliye Celik, its Chairperson for their dedication to the cause of urban sustainability  and their commitment to making the CSU the success that it is.

He recalled  his personal role in creating the CSU back in 2009 as the Chairman of the United Nation Global Alliance for ICT and Development under the umbrella of which it was created as a vehicle for dialogue between the United Nations and urban professionals  and practitioners. 

Dr. Abu Ghazaleh noted that the Covid 19 pandemic had laid bare, as never before,  the fragility and  vulnerability of our world in the face of adverse  natural events.  It had also shown that we are all vulnerable and that we are all in it together. 

He lauded  the unprecedented speed with which vaccines and therapeutics are being developed and called for universal leadership  in using the full potential of science and technology in order to meet the global challenges of the 21st century.

Dr. Abu Ghazaleh concluded by reconfirming that new and emerging technologies must be applied to transform our urban vision, planning, architecture  and design in order  to make urban development more sustainable and resilient.