KKL Mexico holds an Urban Ecology with the the Ibero-American University.
On the 22nd October, the Ibero-American University (Universidad Iberoamericana) hosted the event - 1st Workshop in Urban Ecology: Understanding the city as an ecosystem. The event was the outcome of a fruitful collaboration between KKL Mexico and the University.
The event was attended by students of several faculties including Architecture, Engineering, Urban Planning, International Relations, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. The undergraduates came from universities from all over the Federal District of Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), Anahuac University and, of course, the Ibero-American University (UIA).
The event took place in a warm and respectful atmosphere where the new representative of KKL for Northern Latin America, Magister Shay Salamon, presented the work of KKL in Israel as well as its projects in Mexico. The latter were presented in context of the main topics of the event: water, energy, air quality and residues. The attendants were impressed and surprised by the high level of technology involved in the development for a better environment in Israel.
One of the objectives of the event was to teach the real concept of urban ecology, which is the scientific study of the relations between human beings, the built surroundings and the environment, and how we can contribute with our knowledge to the planning and development of environmentally sustainable cities in the future.
In the first part of the event, various experts gave talks on their specific field.
The event took place in a warm and respectful atmosphere where the new representative of KKL for Northern Latin America, Magister Shay Salamon, presented the work of KKL in Israel as well as its projects in Mexico. The latter were presented in context of the main topics of the event: water, energy, air quality and residues. The attendants were impressed and surprised by the high level of technology involved in the development for a better environment in Israel.
One of the objectives of the event was to teach the real concept of urban ecology, which is the scientific study of the relations between human beings, the built surroundings and the environment, and how we can contribute with our knowledge to the planning and development of environmentally sustainable cities in the future.
In the first part of the event, various experts gave talks on their specific field.
Architect Moisés Gamus, Magister at the UIA University and KKL´s collaborator in this project, gave an overall explanation of what the urban ecology is and its scope.
Sara Topelson de Grinberg, a prominent professional in the field of Urbanism, talked about the problems related to territory expansion and their solutions. She also introduced the case study which was later discussed in the workshop: Santa Fé.
Dr. José Antonio Barrios, an academic at the Engineering Institute of UNAM spoke about the water issue in Mexico's Federal District: its shortage, waste, pollution and how to promote a culture based on saving water.
Mr. Jose Luis Arbesú, architect and teacher of Planning and Systems, talked about the complexity of the collection and residues system in Federal District, the private politics managing it and the battle to be fought in order to educate the population on their consumption habits.
Dr. Leonardo Martínez, a specialist in Urban Economy, spoke about how we should change the concept of mobility in big cities.
Finally, on the topic of energy, engineer Ruben D. Ochoa, expert consultant in energy efficiency as well as founder of the organization SUMe – Sustainability for Mexico, spoke about humans' excessive consumption of energy and its effect on the climate.
After the conference, the attendants were divided into 4 groups in order to discuss in more detail the Santa Fé Case within the four areas, with the professors. This moment was useful for the attendants to think back to what was apprehended during the conference whilst creatively coming up with ideas to put into practice to solve urban real problems.
The most interesting part of the workshop was the contribution of engineer Oscar Vázquez, Director of the Climate Change at the Environment Bureau of the F.D. Government. Contributing to both the conference and workshop, engineer Vázquez enriched the discussions with his knowledge from the government's point of view.
We would like to highlight that the event was organized by the Ecological and Youth Committee of KKL Mexico. Special thanks to Carol Broussi de Rubin, Moisés Gamus,Shirley Dobin and Fredel Kajomovitz for their excellent job in the organisation and to all the volunteers of the Youth Committee for helping us on the day of the event.
Sara Topelson de Grinberg, a prominent professional in the field of Urbanism, talked about the problems related to territory expansion and their solutions. She also introduced the case study which was later discussed in the workshop: Santa Fé.
Dr. José Antonio Barrios, an academic at the Engineering Institute of UNAM spoke about the water issue in Mexico's Federal District: its shortage, waste, pollution and how to promote a culture based on saving water.
Mr. Jose Luis Arbesú, architect and teacher of Planning and Systems, talked about the complexity of the collection and residues system in Federal District, the private politics managing it and the battle to be fought in order to educate the population on their consumption habits.
Dr. Leonardo Martínez, a specialist in Urban Economy, spoke about how we should change the concept of mobility in big cities.
Finally, on the topic of energy, engineer Ruben D. Ochoa, expert consultant in energy efficiency as well as founder of the organization SUMe – Sustainability for Mexico, spoke about humans' excessive consumption of energy and its effect on the climate.
After the conference, the attendants were divided into 4 groups in order to discuss in more detail the Santa Fé Case within the four areas, with the professors. This moment was useful for the attendants to think back to what was apprehended during the conference whilst creatively coming up with ideas to put into practice to solve urban real problems.
The most interesting part of the workshop was the contribution of engineer Oscar Vázquez, Director of the Climate Change at the Environment Bureau of the F.D. Government. Contributing to both the conference and workshop, engineer Vázquez enriched the discussions with his knowledge from the government's point of view.
We would like to highlight that the event was organized by the Ecological and Youth Committee of KKL Mexico. Special thanks to Carol Broussi de Rubin, Moisés Gamus,Shirley Dobin and Fredel Kajomovitz for their excellent job in the organisation and to all the volunteers of the Youth Committee for helping us on the day of the event.
