Presented by the Smart Cities Research Institute at Swinburne University of Technology.

Given the rapid evolution of concepts such as smart cities, who are the architects riding the wave of new possibilities for urban design? How do contemporary agencies find pathways to understand the challenges and opportunities presented by evolving urban technology, and how does architecture engage with the expanding pool of associated disciplines? How should schools of architecture and urban design engage with radical digitalised urbanism?

Join Professor Mark Burry AO, guest editor for the May/June 2020 issue of the prestigious, Architectural Design (AD), titled ‘Urban Futures: Designing the Digitalised City’. The issue identifies visionaries who combine sociology, geography, logistics and systems theories with the challenges of mobility, sustainable materials, food, water and energy supply, and waste disposal to ensure a better urban experience. Professor Burry will discuss his work on the issue with Professor Neil Spiller from publisher Wiley. This will be followed by a Q&A session and panel featuring leading Smart Cities thought leaders and researchers.
 

Speakers

Professor Mark Burry AO 
Director 
Smart Cities Research Institute, Swinburne 

Mark is a Senior Architect and lead researcher at the Sagrada Família Basilica in Barcelona, Spain and was awarded Australian Federation Fellowship in 2005. He is recognised internationally as a thought leader and researcher in the domain of future cities. He joined Swinburne from the Melbourne School of Design at The University of Melbourne where he was Professor of Urban Futures.
 

Professor Neil Spiller
Hawksmoor Chair of Architecture and Landscape and Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor 
University of Greenwich 

Neil was previously Dean of the School of Architecture, Design and Construction and Professor of Architecture and Digital Theory at Greenwich University. Before this he was Vice-Dean and Graduate Director of Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. A practicing architect, he is founding Director of the Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research Group (AVATAR). He is the author of many publications including Visionary Architecture (2006) and Digital Architecture NOW (2008) for Thames & Hudson. He has guest-edited numerous issues of AD since the seminal Architects in Cyberspace in 1995. He is also an AD board member.
 

Dr Sarah Barns 
Research Consultant and Advisor 

Sarah is an urban digital strategist, researcher and creative producer, who concentrates on building future-focussed digital tools, experiences and planning frameworks for public spaces. She works across a number of practice areas: strategy, digital design, research, and public engagement - including writing, public art and public speaking. She has produced over 40 research publications and her areas of research expertise include: Smart cities and data-driven urbanisation, city policy, historical & cultural geography, media history, experiential learning, digital storytelling & digital humanities, Sydney history.
 

Professor Marcus Foth 
Professor of Urban Informatics in the QUT Design Lab Creative Industries Faculty 
Queensland University of Technology 

Marcus’ transdisciplinary work is at the international forefront of human-computer interaction research and development with a focus on smart cities, community engagement, media architecture, internet studies, ubiquitous computing, and sustainability. He received a Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award 2013, and was inducted by the planning, design and development site Planetizen to the world’s top 25 leading thinkers and innovators in the field of urban planning and technology. He has authored and co-authored over 200 publications. In 2017, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) made Professor Foth a fellow for “a sustained and distinguished contribution to the field of computer science”.
 

Meredith Hodgman 
Chair 
Smart Cities Workstream for the Internet of Things Alliance Australia (IoTAA) 

Meredith is the International Engagement Manager for the City of Sydney, the Chair of the Internet of Things Alliance Australia Smart Cities Work-Stream (IOTAA), Co-Founder and International Director of Women in Smart Cities Global. Meredith has a background in law, sustainable transport, and digital transition. She is passionate about catalysing sector convergence for the cities of the future and has 15+ years of international experience in trade and investment, benchmarking and forecasting next-generation technology trends for urban economic, environmental and social efficiencies.
 

Professor Jeni Paay 
Program Leader Future Spaces for Living 
Smart Cities Research Institute, Swinburne 

Jeni has a cross-disciplinary background spanning architecture, computer science and interaction design, and has published widely within the area of human-computer interaction. She has researched and taught within the overall research themes of human computer interaction, design methods and interaction design for urban and domestic computing for over 25 years. Prior to 2017, she worked in Denmark for seven years in the Human Centred Computing Group in the Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University. Before moving to Denmark, she worked as Lead Interaction Designer at CSIRO Sydney on the HxI project, a collaboration between CSIRO (Sydney), NICTA (Sydney) and DSTO (Adelaide).