Global Shifts Colloquium: Urbanization, Migration, and Demography – An Examination of Marginalization & Inequality

Spatial and structural population transformations are often deeply intertwined with marginalization and inequality. Understanding the sources and implications of these relationships is critical to creating policies that address societal change while protecting welfare and dignity for all people. On April 20-21, 2017, the first Perry World House Colloquium examined this topic, identifying which interdisciplinary academic research questions and policy gaps require the most urgent attention; how different types of policy interventions might mitigate marginalization and inequality; and how international institutions could better respond thereto. Following PWH’s signature model, the first day was devoted to presenting commissioned conference papers under the rubric of “Displacement to Development: How Marginalization and Inequality Shape Global Shifts.” The second public day engaged the broader Penn community in high-level conversations around “The Manifestations of Marginalization and Inequality in Global Shifts.” Keynote conversations with Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Anne Richard, former assistant secretary of state for Population, Refugees, and Migration; Jockin Arputham, president of Slum/Shack Dwellers International; and Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, deputy executive director of U.N.-Habitat, among others, stimulated the Penn community’s thinking.