One of the world’s leading scholars and practitioners of urban policy, Professor Edward Blakely has served as Dean of the School of Urban Planning and Development at the University of Southern California; Dean of the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, New School University in New York City; and as Chair of the Dept. of City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley. He recently served as  Honorary Professor in Urban Policy at The University of Sydney. He is also Founder and Principal of The Cities Leadership Institute. In addition to Professor Blakely’s background in academia, he has an extensive record of public service that includes advising Presidents of the United States (Democratic and Republican),  the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the City of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, state and federal governments in Australia and the United States, as well as governments in Korea, Japan, Sweden, Indonesia, New Zealand , Vietnam and currently Chile and Italy. Professor Blakely combines his passion for sustainable urban design with his expertise in climate change disaster to drive his work in consulting, teaching and policy. Blakely is also a globally recognized expert in Metropolitan Planning and Governance having developed and served on Metropolitan Councils such as the Greater Sydney Commission and The Regional Planning Association of New York.