One of the real draws of Congress is the opportunity to participate in our hands-on workshops. This year we will tackle seven live issues affecting Bristol as well as many other towns and cities across the UK, Ireland and Europe. They cover topics from ‘self-build’ to digital urbanism, the economic lift from good place-making to the reconciliation between traffic and places.
Digital Urbanism – Smart City
Facilitators
Tim Stonor, Director, The Academy of Urbanism
Shane Mitchell AoU, Director, UrbanPeer Ltd
Stephen Hilton, Bristol City Council
Claire Craig, Government Office for Science
Overview
Discussions on Smart and Future Cities are very much in vogue, stirred by recent initiatives such as the Future Cities Demonstrator in Glasgow, Future Cities Catapult in London and the Bristol Future City Demonstrator. In a bid to lead direction, the UK Government Office for Science has also launched its project on the Future of Cities.
The smart city is also drawing attention from major corporate players such as IBM, Siemens and Cisco, who, keen to position themselves at the leading edge of the debate, have developed their own bespoke initiatives. But all this action and discussion has begun to beg the question: is this a fleeting fashion, or an evolutionary moment in urbanism? Should we now be planning for places online as well as on land? What does this mean for traditional physical and spatial urban practice?
The AoU is bringing together a group of speakers at the heart of the debate on Smart and Future Cities in a special workshop on Digital Urbanism, including: Claire Craig, Deputy Head of the Government Office for Science; Stephen Hilton, Director of the Future Group at Bristol City Council.
The discussion will be Co-chaired by Tim Stonor AoU, Director of The Academy of Urbanism and Shane Mitchell AoU, former Global Programme Manager for Urban Innovation Practice at Cisco, who are both deeply involved in the creation of Smart and Future Cities strategies.