Cities are on the front line of climate adaptation and are often forced to step up among a vacuum of multilateral and national level leadership. This vacuum is particularly stark in countries of the emerging world, within contexts of autocracy, extreme inequality, and geopolitical tensions. From flooding streets to overtaxed energy grids, from rooftop farms to real-time urban dashboards, city leaders are navigating an era that demands both bold vision and rigorous execution for transformational urban climate initiatives.

This session brings together three leaders who are reshaping how cities respond to climate through the circular economy, design, and data. They represent a rare convergence of a fashion industry leader building a circular economy for textile waste within a major African city, a landscape architect redesigning Southeast Asia's urban fabric to absorb and adapt to extreme weather, and an urban informatics leader building the data systems that help governments make smarter, faster decisions.

This conversation will explore what it takes to lead on the frontlines of climate change, build political will, navigate institutional resistance, earn community trust, and make decisions under uncertainty. It will center the human choices, risks, and tradeoffs behind the work.

Featured Speakers

Omoyemi Akerele — 2025 Yale Climate Fellow, Founder and CEO, Lagos Fashion Week and Style House Files; partner to the city of Lagos on textile-waste recycling and circular economy; 2025 Earthshot Prize winner; TIME 100 Climate

Kotchakorn Voraakhom — 2026 Yale World Fellow, Founder, LANDPROCESS and the Porous City Network; creator of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn Centenary Park and Asia's largest rooftop farm; UN Climate Action Award recipient; TIME 100 Next; TED Fellow; Harvard GSD

Roy Yu-Ta Lin — 2026 Yale World Fellow, Head of Urban Informatics, City Science Lab @ Taipei Tech (MIT–NTUT); former Director of Data Analytics, Taipei Urban Intelligence Center; Harvard GSD

Moderated by: Yuval Ben-David, Chief Strategy Officer, Yale International Leadership Center

The Yale International Leadership Center (ILC) develops and supports innovative, effective, and adaptive leaders to address the most acute and complex challenges facing the world. This event is part of ILC's ongoing commitment to convening practitioners whose work sits at the intersection of leadership, sustainability, and civic life.