1. Updates
Week 14
Hello Urbanists! This week we have been treated to not one, but two new articles gracing the pages of the Oxford Urbanists magazine. Both focusing on public transportation systems, these pieces on Singapore and Colombia offer fascinating insights into the development of urban transit systems from different angles, and you will of course want to read on below to find out more.
Read on for news on the end of traffic congestion, opportunities to attend conferences and a summer course on global leadership for the future of cities, events happening from Oxford to Singapore… and much much more.
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This week we are lucky enough to have two articles published in the Oxford Urbanists magazine. Brandon Chye's piece highlights some of the key principles and lessons learned from Singapore’s transit-oriented development strategy and assesses how these principles may be considered and applied in emerging cities across the Global South.
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Andres Melendro Blanco's piece on the electrification of public transport in Colombia makes the case for why electrification is necessary, documents the struggle undergone to make it happen, and suggests ways forward.
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As always, please do send in your pictures and work - we'd love to feature them in our newsletter. Head over to Facebook, Twitter, and our website pages for more updates.
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2. Urbanist News around the World
- Floating cities aren't the answer to climate change (CityLabs)
- Yes, they look fab from drones. Yes, we'd love to take a spin in one of the SpyKids-esque boat-mobile things that appear in the visualisations. But are floating cities really the best way forward?
- Singapore makes room for allotment gardens as urban farming takes root (Place)
- Agriculture makes up only about 1 percent of Singapore's land area, but urban farming - including vertical and rooftop farms - is fast becoming popular
- The end (of the end of) traffic congestion (La Fabrique de la cite)
- More or less the same experience since time immemorial (see Juvenal's 'The Annoyances of Rome' on how "the oaths of draymen caught in a traffic-jam, would rouse a dozing seal"), a lot of claims have been made about digital technologies' ability to abate traffic. This (kind of meta?) collection of pieces examine the extent to which digital technologies can really get us out of, or further into, jams.
- Self-made superheroes and street naps: Manila – a cartoon (The Guardian)
- Ukiyo-E prints depicting daily urban life in Manila. .
- The future of US cities (Centre for Public Impact)
- No flux capacitor and a dearth of plutonium? Past its slightly flufffy vocab (lots on 'agility' and 'aligning'), this report offers a useful glimpse into the future of US cities and how such futures can be shaped by actions in the present (irreversibly altering the space-time continuum...)
- Transit-Oriented Development in Emerging Cities: Principles from Singapore (Oxford Urbanists)
- Highlights some of the key principles and lessons learned from Singapore’s transit-oriented development strategy and assesses how these principles may be considered and applied in emerging cities across the Global South.
- Transit Electrification in Colombia: An Unaffordable Dream? (Oxford Urbanists)
- On the electrification of public transport in Colombia, this piece makes the case for why electrification is necessary, documents the struggle undergone to make it happen, and suggests ways forward.
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3. Urbanist Events
Events in Oxford
Tuesday 14 May
Single in the City: Women, Migration and Domestic Work in India
- Speakers: To be announced.
- Details: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road. 14:00.
Monday 20 May
City region food systems: potential for impacting planetary boundaries and food security
- Speaker: Dr Mike Hamm
- Details: Oxford Martin School, Corner of Catte and Holywell Streets. 17:00.
Thursday 30 May
Living in landscapes
- Speakers: Various speakers
- Details: St Luke's Chapel, Woodstock Road. 18:00.
Events in the UK
16 April
Designing Change – Confidence, Liberalism, and Urban Planning in the 21st Century
- Speakers: Please see link for full list of speakers.
- Details: AECOM offices at Aldgate. 18:30 - 20:15. Registration required.
16 May
Cities Imaginaries Lecture 2019 (UCL)
- Speaker: Sonjah Stanley Niaah
- Details: Gustav Tuck Lecture Theatre, 005: Wilkins Main Building, Gower Street, London. 18:30 - 20:00.
30 May
Constructing Realities Summer Special (UCL)
- Speaker: Mitchell Joachim
- Details: UCL at Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. 18:30 - 20:30.
4 June
BSP Expo 2019 (UCL)
- Details: South Cloisters, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London. 17:00.
Thursday 27 June
Urban identities: past and present
- Speakers: Various speakers
- Details: Humanities Building, University of Warwick.
Friday 5 - Sunday 7 July
SPACE International Conference 2019 on City Planning and Urban Design
- Speakers: Please see link for full list of speakers
- Details: Antoinette Hotel, The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1SD
Events around the World
25 April (conference)
Urban Challenge Conference 2019
- Speakers: please see link for full list of speakers
- Details: Copenhagen Business School, Ovnhallen, Porcelænshaven 24A, 2000 Frederiksberg. 9:45 - 16:00.
13-15 May (conference)
Smart Cities New York
- Speakers: please see link for full list of speakers
- Details: Cornell Tech and Pier 36. Multiple locations. Please follow link and download guide.
24-26 June (conference)
12th conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFOU)
Beyond Resilience
- Speakers: please see link for full list of speakers
- Details: Department of Architecture and Planning, Universitas Tarumanagara, Jakarta.
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4. Opportunities for Urbanists
Oxford Urbanists Team - Work with us in a number of roles!
AcceliCITY: Global Smart City Startup Competition
Looking for your first city as a client? Hoping to add new cities to your portfolio of existing customers? The AcceliCITY program is a critical opportunity for your organization to utilize Leading Cities’ global network of municipal governments, universities, corporations and Smart City experts to successfully build smarter cities while propelling your startup’s growth. Successful applicants can gain access to funding, mentorship, and a global network.
Applications open until 30th April
Find more information here.
Call for citizens
Citizen science - Greco project
GRECO are looking for citizens to actively participate in a citizen science project which will see researchers seek citizens' opinions and include them in the photovoltaics process. All you have to do is fill in the form (and find more information) here.
Call for Papers
SPACE International Conference 2019 on City Planning and Urban Design, 5 -7 July 2019
The conference will act as a platform to discuss the recent advances and research results in the fields of City Planning and Urban Design and all related areas such as architecture, planning, policy studies, education, interior architecture, urban studies, social sciences, engineering, arts, and so on.
The Abstract submission deadline is 20 March.
Find more information here.
Summer course
2019 Global Leadership for the Future of Cities Summer Course
The Future of Cities Summer Course describes itself as "designed to provide talented and advanced university students and young professionals from a variety of disciplines and fields aspiring to pursue high-level research or management careers with the exposure to the key areas involved in making urban development sustainable, flexible, dynamic, resilient and vibrant in response to evolving challenges and circumstances. These areas include governance and policy; design and planning; technology and innovation; economics, business and finance; and social and cultural development". The course will take place between 18–31 August 2019 in Christ Church college, Oxford.
The deadline for applications is 31 May.
Find more information here.
Call for Papers
Urb-Iot
The goal of the conference is to solicit original and inspiring research contributions from technology experts, designers, researchers, urban planners, and architects in academia and industry. Bringing together practitioners and researchers to share knowledge, experiences, and best practices, Urb-IoT 2019 seeks multi-disciplinary contributions in the areas of Citizen Engagement, Urban Analytics, and IoT Applications and Services in Urban Context. Find more information here.
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As always, don't hesitate to reach out with ideas and opportunities to share with the greater Urbanist community. Have a great week!
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The Oxford Urbanists tackle contemporary urban challenges with innovative solutions through interdisciplinary, global collaboration.
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