Breakout Sessions

2011 Urban Systems Symposium

1. New Theories of Cities - Keith Besserud Room 1015

What are the most valuable methods for modeling cities (Virtual Reality, Systems Dynamics, Systems Science/Service Science, Scaling Laws, Economics) and how and when should these be applied?

How does the thinking about modeling lead to better Metrics, Diagnostics and Remedies for the well-being of cities?

How does the advent of the Information Age, rendering the invisible visible in cities, change our thinking about Urban Studies, Sociology and Anthropology and other "softer" disciplines?

2. Education and Professional Development - Villa Peltola Room 1016

Is there a need for a Masters curriculum for Urban Systems and what would it look like.

What development needs exist for practicing professionals (architects, planners, engineers, managers....) in the application of Urban Systems and how can such training be developed?

Is there a need for an industry forum for best practices of planning, building, operating, and managing Urban System?

3. Principles and Standards – John Reinhardt Room 1018

Can a city make itself more attractive to citizens or more valuable to enterprises by offering urban information services (citizen, visitor, NGO/NPO, academic, enterprise...) based on the real-world information it is collecting.

What policies should be developed for the management of personal information collected by cities as has been done for the management of healthcare information? What national organizations can sanction such policies?

What information standards (Urban Information Model) are needed to facilitate the interconnection of the many systems, services, models, decision-support systems within cities?

What standards are need to facilitate the end-to-end flow of information over the lifecycles of the built environment (planning, design, engineering, construction, operation/management, decommissioning, recycling/repurposing)?

4. Financing and Economics – Constantine Kontokosta 1020

How can cities finance the scaling up of visionary pilots (green districts, knowledge districts, innovation districts) to progressively transform the city?

How can cities facing extremely rapid urbanization in both developed and developing economies avoid the problems of MegaCities (slums, sprawl, declining quality of life)?

How can our improved methods for modeling enable developers and financiers to reduce the risks of investing in property development?

Financing mechanisms for large-scale infrastructure and building projects

Predictive models and risk mitigation

Fiscal concerns, particularly municipal revenue sources and tax structures

5. Governance in the Information Age - John TolvaRoom 427

How does the interaction between the intelligent city and its citizens drive changes in governance models still dominated by territory, history, and agency mandates?

How should municipal governments exploit information technologies, beyond the citizen portal, to stimulate engagement, sharing, and co-developing?

What new options does the intelligent city have in how it provides and manages services for its citizens?

How can municipal government adopt policies of open data?