A 2-day conference to re-position thinking around the notions of the smart city, through an examination of its many manifestations.

The conference will cover issues relating to connectivity, cultural sustainability, society, economics, energy and consumption, public health and technological.

Date: 15-16 July 2016

Location: Ravensbourne

For more details visit the event webpage


Call for Papers

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to get involved with the discussion. All disciplines interested in smart cities are welcome to send in a proposal on any area of the architectural humanities, This could include culture, theory and design and papers will be 20 minutes long.

The conference will be introduced and concluded each day by the following keynote speakers:

Prof. Nigel Coates – Founder of Branson Coates Architecture. RCA Professor Emeritus. Former Head of Department of Architecture at the Royal College of Art.

Prof. CJ Lim – Founder and Director of Studio 8 Architects. Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at UCL.

Prof. Neil Thomas – Director and Founder of Atelier One. Professor to Yale, New Haven and Austin University.

Simon Allford – Chairman of the Architecture Foundation and visiting professor at The Bartlett and GSD Harvard. He was recently Vice President for Education at the RIBA.


Call for abstracts (closes 16th March)

We are also looking for abstracts. If any of the following themes pique your interest or expertise we would love to hear from you.

  1. Smart Cities is more then digital connectivity, so what is its significance in a ubiquitous wireless reality, for those involved in the creation and curating of the built environment.
  2. The impact of new technologies and sustainable models on manifestations of smart cities thinking and how these apply to material and construction.
  3. The politics of smart cities brings to the forefront the polarities of basic needs food, water, energy in the era of climate change, what does this mean for architecture?
  4. Public health and community are now the new essentials that drive the cities thinking for the future.
  5. The Smart City of experience and the public realm enabled experience, responsive or interactive environments.
  6. The cultural collateral of the impact of shifting global economic and social factors, on the physical form of smart cities and the nomadic imperative of populations on the move.
  7. The Smart City and its intelligent communities are the new drivers for cultural interchange. What form are these taking in a time of experience accessibility and what scenario driven environments will this require?
  8. The delivery and destination imperative for smart cities and the alternative relationships to the new forms of distribution interface, personal and physical, AR, VR Drone.

If interested, please submit a 500-word abstract and your CV to Sophie Johnson via email s.johnson@rave.ac.uk by 16 March.

If accepted, a full paper (max 4000 words) would need to be submitted by 20 May 2016.


Important dates and prices:

16 March Submission deadline for 500-word abstract + CV Early Bird Registration – £250
20 May Submission deadline for full papers 3000-4000 words Registration – £285
15 & 16 July Conference Audience Fee – £20 / Students £10