Urban Sustainability MeetingUniversity College London

January 29, 2010

• Over the past several years, researchers from UCL, ASU, and Newcastle U. have discussed collaborative opportunities related to several aspects of urban sustainability.

• With funds from the British Consulate, these three groups are planning a workshop in London, May 21-23, 2010.

• We recently learned of others around London from academia, government, NGOs and the private sector, whose programs have direct relevance to the workshop goals.

• We invited you to share your perspectives (and those of your organizations) on urban sustainability, and to get your input on ways the May conference could be most productive.

Background

Today’s participants

• Mike Batty (UCL) Rajat Gupta (Oxford Brookes)• Mike Davies (UCL) Paul Monks (Leicester University)• Julian Hunt (UCL) Roland Leigh (Leicester University)• Alan Wilson (UCL) Grant Kopec (Cambridge University)• Duncan Smith (UCL) Keiko Saito (Cambridge University)• Stuart Barr (Newcastle U) Adam Durant (Cambridge University)• Jon Fink (ASU) Daniel Godoy (Cambridge University)• Matt Fraser (ASU) Helen Mulligan (Cambridge Arch. Res.

Ltd)• Lela Prashad (ASU) Cathy Pickering (IBM)• Eddie Burgess (ASU) David Dodman (IIED)

Purpose

To explore how urban sustainability goals could be more effectively achieved through:

(1) better integration among urban data collection (especially remote sensing), urban modeling, and urban decision-making; and

(2) comprehensive comparative studies of sustainability measures and models in different cities in the developing and developed world.

Goals for the afternoon

• Get to know the rest of the group’s capabilities

• Define objectives for the May 20-23 meeting

• Identify collaborative opportunities

• Assess funding options for partnerships

Discussion questions to build a collaborative research agenda on urban sustainability

• What current limitations of urban models could be overcome through better integration with remote sensing data, and how might remote sensing platforms, instruments, and software be modified to most effectively improve modeling of cities in developing and developed countries?

• What steps are needed to allow models customized for one city to be applied to many other cities, and how might such comparisons improve urban management?

• How might government, academic, NGO and corporate approaches to studying urban systems be better integrated?

• What are the most effective ways that urban models can be made useful to policy makers?