LBJ School co-hosts APPAM 2018 International Conference in Mexico City

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Published:
July 23, 2018
Dean Evans with LBJ School faculty Peter Ward and Raissa Fabregas during the APPAM Conference in Mexico City

"Public Policy for Sustainable Metropolitan Development" was the theme of the 2018 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) International Conference in Mexico City, Mexico. The LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Instituto Tecnólogico Autónomo de Méxic (ITAM) jointly organized the conference, which was held July 19–20, 2018. This was the first time that APPAM's summer international conference was held outside of Europe.

The conference included nearly 60 sessions and three plenaries built around seven primary policy areas: environmental sustainability, sustainable government, planning and public participation and inclusion, secure and resilient cities, sustainable economic development, sustainable social services across the life course and sustainable urban and metropolitan development. Several LBJ School faculty and Ph.D. students participated as panelists, moderators and chairs, covering a variety of policy areas: housing, inequality, labor markets, eldercare, solar, immigration, crime and more.

"The conference was extraordinary, bringing together researchers and Ph.D. students from the United States and Latin America to bond professionally and share ideas of how best to tackle shared policy problems." —Angela Evans, dean of the LBJ School

"The conference was extraordinary, bringing together researchers and Ph.D. students from the United States and Latin America to bond professionally and share ideas of how best to tackle shared policy problems," said Angela Evans, dean of the LBJ School.

"The conference forms part of the school's strategy to be a lead center in public policy research and graduate education relating to sustainable urban development challenges in Mexico and Latin America over the next 20 years," said Peter Ward, an LBJ School professor and conference co-chair. "Co-hosted with the ITAM at its campus in Mexico City, this was the first time that APPAM’s summer international conference has been held outside of Europe, targeting the global south, and reaching out to the many strong public policy programs in Mexico and Latin America. Hugely successful, 20 percent of the panel proposals came from the region."

"The conference forms part of the school's strategy to be a lead center in public policy research and graduate education relating to sustainable urban development challenges in Mexico and Latin America." —Professor Peter Ward

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The Honorable Julian Castro moderated the closing plenary session with former and past mayors from Mexico and the United States discussing policy challenges to sustainable governance.

The conference also offered optimal networking opportunities. Below, the LBJ School's Victoria Rodriguez is pictured with Adriana Pacheco, the chair of the International Board of Advisers(IBA). The IBA is a select group of influencers, who with President Greg Fenves and senior leadership of The University of Texas at Austin, make recommendations on how UT Austin can expand its global network and enhance its presence and impact around the world.

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Located in one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, the 2018 conference comes some 18 months after the 2016 bi-decennial UN-Habitat II Conference in Quito and the adoption of the "New Urban Agenda" (NUA). The NUA presents a paradigm shift based on the science of cities and lays out standards and principles for the planning, construction, development, management and improvement of urban areas along its five main pillars of implementation: national urban policies, urban legislation and regulations, urban planning and design, local economy and municipal finance and local implementation.

Ph.D. students who presented papers include Regina Buono, Ana Cañedo, Maria Elena Giner, Sophie Morse, Cale Reeves, Alfonos Rojas, Santiago Tellez and Ashlyn Webb.

View the conference agenda.