Making cities more inclusive, safe and sustainable: this is goal 11 of the 17 that the United Nations aims to achieve through its 2030 Agenda. This is precisely the area that LIUC – Università Cattaneo is committed to, which – in collaboration with UNECE (the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) – has established the Centre of Excellence on sustainable finance for infrastructure and smart cities (ExSUF).

The first task for the University is the organisation of the conference “Financing the City of the Future: UNECE and LIUC launch the new Centre ExSUF”, on Thursday 24 June 2021 at 2 pm (CET), in live streaming on Il Sole 24Ore, media partner of the event.

This is an international event featuring representatives of the Centre, delegates of the United Nations, representatives of the economic and financial world and numerous prominent experts, including: Olga Algayerova (UNECE Executive Secretary and United Nations Under-Secretary General), Norman Foster (Architect, Founder and Executive Chairman Foster + Partners and President Norman Foster Foundation), Federico Visconti (University Dean, LIUC – Università Cattaneo), Fabio Tamburini (Director – Il Sole 24 Ore), Laia Bonnet Rull (Deputy Mayor of Digital Transition and International Relations – Barcelona), Roberta Cocco (Deputy Mayor of Digital Transformation – Milan), Stefano De Capitani (President of Municipia, Engineering Group), Giulio De Carli (Scientific Director, DomusAir), Antonio Decaro (Mayor of Bari and President of ANCI), Leigh Harrison (Global Head – Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets), Paola Deda (Director Forests, Land and Housing Division, UNECE), Mauro Pastore (General Director of Iccrea Banca), Salvatore Rossi (President of TIM SpA).

Representatives from the ExSUF Centre will include Anna Gervasoni (Full Professor of Corporate Finance, LIUC – Università Cattaneo and President of the ExSUF Centre) and Giampiero Bambagioni (Vice Chair, United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities).

The event will be moderated by Laura Serafini (Journalist, Il Sole 24Ore) and have interpretation in Italian and English.

During the conference, the creation of a multi-lingual portal will be annouced; The portal serves as a reference point, a service for government officials, researchers and young students of all countries contaning information material, and case studies, useful for the realisation of new “smart cities”.