Symposium on Applied Urban Modelling, Cambridge, UK
24-26 June 2015
Announcement & Call for Abstracts
AUM2015 is the fifth in a planned series of annual symposia on applied urban simulation models that offer insights into urban change and the realisation of practical policy initiatives. Since the launch of the AUM series in 2011, the symposia have attracted delegates from diverse disciplines, universities, professional institutions and government agencies in many countries[1].
The overarching theme of AUM2015 is ‘green cities'. The term ‘green’ is defined in its wider sense. It highlights the growing importance of urban ecosystem services and green space across the world’s city regions. The symposium themes aim to place the discussions on urban ecosystem services, green space and environmental sustainability in the practical urban development context, i.e. to treat them as integral components in rationalizing urban energy use, reducing the emissions of and human exposures to pollutants, in improving urban air quality and the quality of life, in addressing social inequality, and ultimately in finding feasible pathways to transform cities today into liveable habitats for all citizens.
The symposium has a simple format that allocates ample time for presentation and discussion, and provides opportunities to develop an in-depth understanding of the state of the art across a wide range of different model types and styles. We hope high quality papers from final year PhD candidates and young postdocs will account for around one third of the presentations and they are scheduled in themed sessions along with papers from world leading model theorists, developers, users and practitioners.
Through the previous symposia, the AUM series has developed a conversational style in the organisation of sessions, ample off-session time for in-depth talks and an emphasis on practical applicability of the models. We aim to develop these features further in AUM2015. We will also plan to experiment with the use of social media and micro-blogging to raise awareness of the key themes and findings.
We propose the following themes but will consider additional proposals from prospective speakers:
(1) Emerging frontiers - new models for vigorous urban improvements and revitalisation;
(2) Integrated models that inform the balancing of economic, social, environmental, ecological and quality-of-life objectives;
(3) Urban ecosystem services and wider urban ecological modelling;
(4) Assessment of the effects of urban investments in promoting productivity, quality of life, fairness and environmental sustainability.
As was the case last year, authors can upload their papers and presentations before the symposium in an online repository (see below) to share with prospective delegates, but this is not obligatory – they can, if necessary, bring the presentation to the symposium and upload the presentations and papers afterwards. Where required, we will facilitate the communication between speakers and their respective discussants and chairs.
We are delighted to have received a high number of abstracts by the deadline. However, it has come to our attention that some new modelling communities became aware of AUM2015 late in the day. For those who are still interested in submitting an abstract please contact us by email at aum2015@aha.cam.ac.uk and we will be delighted to discuss this with you.
For AUM2015 we propose to continue the dissemination strategy through peer reviewed publications, supplemented by an AUM website with public and delegate-only paper repositories.
For further particulars, see below.
AUM2015: Further Details
Authors
We wish to engage with a wide group of authors, including leading scholars, decision-makers and practitioners, post-docs and PhD students close to completing their dissertations. Those working at the sharp-end of applied urban modelling and its use in investment decision-making are particularly welcome. We look forward to hearing from authors from the developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, as well as the developed countries.
The symposium is open to all model types and styles. It welcomes particularly papers that assess tangible pathways towards achieving practical policy solutions. We also welcome papers that report innovations in modelling and data methods.
Expected audience and dissemination
Because of its direct policy relevance we expect a wide audience ranging from academics, professionals, decision-makers, policy analysts and local communities. We expect to attract a wide and policy–cogent audience. For this reason, the authors are encouraged to report their theories, methods and findings in a non-specialist language.
The Symposium papers are expected to be at the leading edge of policy research and modelling practice and in the usual way they will be disseminated through journals with a rigorous refereeing process. Key city region case studies are likely to be disseminated in conjunction with city region or local authority partners through online publication and social media to feed into the policy debate in a direct and accessible manner.
Expenses and possible financial assistance
AUM2015 requires a registration fee (see table below) which covers symposium papers, lunches and refreshments. Participants are generally expected to pay for their own travel to and from Cambridge and accommodation in Cambridge. This arrangement is dictated by the symposium funding structure.
- Full registration fee (three days): £225.00
- Full registration fee (day rate): £125.00
- Reduced registration fee (three days): £75.00
- Reduced registration fee (day rate): £50.00
- Conference Dinners on 25 and 26 June: £55.00 per dinner
We have a modest fund to assist those authors who do not have funding for symposium registration, travel or accommodation. Those who would require financial assistance or have other queries please contact Dr Ying Jin (yj242@cam.ac.uk).
Registration
The registration fee covers lunch, drinks and refreshments on all conference days, and a buffet supper on Wednesday 24 June. En-suite conference accommodation at Robinson College have been reserved at an additional cost and are bookable on a first come first served basis. Because of the tightness of accommodation this year, we would encourage delegates to book early. If any delegates would have issues booking early, please contact us and we would be happy to assist as far as we can.
Registration is now open. Please follow this link to register
Symposium delegates will have full on-line access to papers and presentations on the AUM2015 website.
Symposium organisation
The event will be hosted by the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, Cambridge University. We acknowledge the co-sponsorship from EPSRC Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction and the Tsinghua-Cambridge-MIT Low Carbon Energy University Alliance. The Scientific Committee for AUM2015 consists of Prof Marcial Echenique, Prof Mike Batty, and Prof Michael Wegener. The Organising Committee of AUM2015 is led by Ying Jin, Steve Denman and Claudio Martani.