Track #4 Sub-themes
Emerging technologies for climate-responsive planning.
Big data, algorithms, and AI for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
Promoting circular economy and nature-based solutions through innovation.
Role of new technologies in strengthening urban resilience.
Affordability and accessibility of technology in planning and urban finance.
Track 4.1: Advance Urban Finance with Tech
Climate change has become one of the most critical global issues; hence policy and decision-makers seek solutions to build adaptive capacity through investing limited resources and funds. The session discusses the role of digital tools, artificial intelligence, and big data in distributing urban finances to enhance sustainable urban development. It also emphasizes how data can shape climate awareness and allow climate-responsive urban planning as the presenters analyze the challenge of prioritizing fund allocation focusing on vulnerable urban areas.
Track 4.2: Enhance Urban Resilience with Tech
Both global and urban development processes lead toward climate impacts exacerbating urban flooding, heat island effects, water eutrophication, pollution, earthquakes and other ecological costs. The urban areas need a shift toward resilient development as a response to a significant threat to the safety of water resources and the sustainability of ecosystems. The session discusses concepts of climate adaptive cities by proposing strategies of regeneration from hazard events or threats and draws directions for development based on environmental resources and local economies. The session finds implementation practices, quantitative-driven risk and land resource indicators, and geospatial web services for managing flood risk and food security.
Track 4.3: Innovate Urban Spaces with Tech
As public spaces are one of the most critical elements of urban life, urbanists seek solutions for successful places. Digital technology, big data and artificial intelligence algorithms can be considered enablers for recognising key factors allowing the designing of high-quality urban spaces and vibrant and accessible public spaces. This session proposes machine learning solutions (both supervised and unsupervised) for assessing urban vibrancy and introduces AI-based tools for developing vital public spaces. The session includes presentations on urban flows and dynamics evaluation tools, spatial structure analyses and multi-dimensional objective evaluation methods.
Track 4.4: Run Climate-Centric Analysis with Tech
The session explores economic and urban growth cost changes in the urban thermal environment and energy consumption. Rapid and often uncontrolled urbanization triggers climate crisis and environmental degradation. The built environment features are vital in shaping the urban thermal environment. The session presentations propose utilizing urban and geographic knowledge to provide a new layer of insight for climate-centric urban analysis. The session discusses how data such as GSV and tools such as machine learning-based visual analysis technology can help shape climate awareness and propose solutions for communities to engage with climate-centric urban planning.
Track 4.5: Decrease Carbon Emissions with Tech
While cities propose ambitious goals for carbon neutralization, they often need more solutions. The session discusses the tools for evaluating the carbon sequestration capacity of urban blocks and pathways toward urban carbon neutralization. Authors argue that the blue-green infrastructure and green carbon reduction technology development are the keys to success. The session includes presentations targeted at spatial planning guidance strategies to improve the carbon sink capacity and urban resilience.
Track 4.6: Respect Heritage and Residents' Needs with Tech
Urban dynamics change the perception and behaviours of urban dwellers. The appearance of new digital technologies, such as AI or big data, provides tools to explore new trends in urban change. Such solutions have broken the time-space boundaries of human activities and have brought about tremendous changes in the form and use of urban space. The session explores a new pattern of urban cognition and addresses the challenge of changes resulting from the digital era. The session also discusses current urban space dynamics by analysing urban vibrancy, influencing factors, and how modern technology allows capturing residents' behaviour.
Track 4.7: Analyse and Improve Microclimate with Tech
With the increase of global climate consequences, urban microclimate environments bring the attention of researchers as the cities are primarily responsible for climate impacts. Achieving a high-quality urban space and microclimate for healthy cities could help build climate adaptive capacity. The session contributors argue that urban microclimate change on residents' daily activities. Using geospatial data and new digital tools, they investigate vital issues influencing microclimate and urban dynamics associated with energy and heat consumption, space use per person, street space, spatial form, and crowd activity. Responding to the prominent spatial environmental problems and improving the microclimate environment is crucial to optimize spatial quality and enhance vitality.
Track 4.8: Find Sustainable Development Solutions with Tech
Today's urbanisation challenges call for innovative urban solutions. The session contributors argue that planning tools are still growth-oriented. Hence, they propose tools for land take reduction and introduce a unique quadruple helix of innovation with the active participation of public authority, enterprises, academia, and citizens. The session focuses explicitly on the role of innovations and technology in planning practice and enabling the implementation of circular economy principles. The session also discusses digital twins and modular design concepts for community engagement aiming to accelerate climate-resilient transformations of public spaces and enhance the quality of life in urban environments. The session includes presentations on how adopting circular design principles can help reduce the refurbishment process's carbon footprint and minimise the environmental impact.
Track 4.9: Evaluate Present and Plan Future with Tech
Artificial intelligence is changing the development and innovation of landscape planning and design. At the same time, creating a vibrant and prosperous place and active community is one of the main goals of planning practice. Hence, the session discusses new data sources and digital tools and their role in visualizing sustainable and vital urban futures. The session includes presentations on how big data or social media resources can help to assess urban perceptions, dynamics, and flows, targeted spatial planning guidance strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of design to enhance the urban vibrancy and the implementation of sustainable development and 15-minute concept to strengthen the adaptive capacity of cities.