Transitions towards more sustainable cities are inherently complex phenomena which cut across many fragmented sectors including water, waste, energy and the built environment. The challenge for urban policy makers is to develop the knowledge and capacity to use resources more sustainably and incorporate this knowledge into the existing urban environment, critical infrastructures, and the lives of the people who live in it.
Although we cannot predict the future, we know that it will have to conform to the laws of nature, the constraints of ecological systems and the peculiarities of individual human and societal systems. Within the transition research community, much research is being undertaken to develop models to investigate the dynamics of urban transition pathways. However, efforts have thus far being piecemeal and disconnected.
This symposium, held in Cardiff, UK, on July 3rd-4th 2013, will offer a platform for interdisciplinary collaborations regarding long term urban planning, bringing together academics and practitioners to discuss experiences, opportunities and limitations of using system dynamics modelling approaches to investigate suitable urban transition. A new collaboration network based on the symposium is proposed and a special journal issue in a leading journal will be sought. Funding may be available for travels and accommodations in the UK for invited speakers.
The themes of the symposium will be
- Physical flows: energy, water and waste
- Urban infrastructure and urban metabolism
- Social transitions
- Methodologies
- systems thinking and analysis
- dynamic modelling
The deadline for extended abstracts (200-400 words) is 1st March 2013. For more information, please contact Paula Mullins at MullinsPJ@cardiff.ac.uk or Dr. Yangang Xing at XingY1@cardiff.ac.uk.