PROJECTSCOGNITIVE CITIESIN 2011

COGNITIVE CITIES

I was co-organizer and cofounder of the Cognitive Cities Conference which aimed to facilitate a vibrant

global conversation about the future of cities. By inviting bright minds with different perspectives, it was our

ambition to enable not only an in-depth exchange about the current state of affairs, but also to foster new

projects and contribute to the ongoing global discussion. We invited urban planners, designers, technology-

& environmental experts, public officials, urban gardening enthusiasts, and cultural influencers to be part of

the conversation.

COGNITIVE CITIES

I was co-organizer and cofounder of the Cognitive Cities Conference which aimed to facilitate a vibrant

global conversation about the future of cities. By inviting bright minds with different perspectives, it was our

ambition to enable not only an in-depth exchange about the current state of affairs, but also to foster new

projects and contribute to the ongoing global discussion. We invited urban planners, designers, technology-

& environmental experts, public officials, urban gardening enthusiasts, and cultural influencers to be part of

the conversation.

DAY ONE

Day one took place at an extraordinary, a grand old theater. It was structured as a „one-track“ event

envisioned to provide all participants with a highly curated information flow. The speakers included Adam

Greenfield (Urbanscale), Warren Ellis (Author), Dan Hill (Arup), Ben Hammersley (Wired UK), Ton Zijlstra,

Juha van’t Zelfde (VURB), Sami Niemelä (Nordkapp), Georgina Voss (Tinker London), Dannie Jost (World

Trade Institute), among others. There were over 500 paying participants in the first day of this ticketed event

from 18 different countries (41% women, 59% men).

DAY TWO

Day two was focused on adopting community-driven BarCamps and decentralized events by spreading out

into different locations all over the city of Berlin. The second day was free and open to the public, therefore

the total number of people who interacted with the other attendees increased substantially (around 1200

people were involved).

ADAM GREENFIELD, MANAGIND DIRECTOR OF URBANSCALE, NEW YORK

»I cannot remember an event launching with quite the same buzz as Cognitive Cities.«

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