City+2021 Conference was Successfully Held at Dastu, POLIMI

The City+2021 International Conference for Ph.D. Students and Early Career Researchers on Urban Studies, was successfully held on 30th October 2021 in Milan, Italy. Approximately 60 delegates coming from 17 countries (including Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the UK, and the U.S.) and around 50 institutes and universities shared their studies in this online conference, and more than 180 people joined the event. The 57 presentations were selected from 174 abstracts of papers, and these studies referred to various topics within the theme “Modeling a Resilient and Smart Urban Life”.

The conference was sponsored by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (Dastu), Polytechnic University of Milan, and got supported by the other 14 universities and organizations, as well as the City+ Network.

Professor Luca Gaeta, the chair of the Ph.D. program in Urban Planning, Design and Policy at the Polytechnic University of Milan, gave a welcome speech to this conference. Professor Stefan van der Spek (Delft University of Technology) and Professor Ying Jin (University of Cambridge) gave two keynote speeches at the conference. Around 60 selected papers were presented under six thematical sessions with research focuses centering around Smart city and beyond (chaired by Lorenzo Ceccon, Polytechnic University of Milan, and the invited speaker Prof. Daniele Villa from Polytechnic University of Milan), New form of participation (chaired by Annalisa Rollandi, Polytechnic University of Milan, and the invited speakers Prof. Giovanna Fossa from Polytechnic University of Milan and Prof. Felix Günther from University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland), Active travel and urban mobility (chaired by Dr. Mengqiu Cao, University of Westminster, and Yang Liang, Polytechnic University of Milan, and the invited speaker Prof. Domenico D’Uva from Polytechnic University of Milan), Low-carbon and inclusive cities (chaired by Prof. Zhifu Mi, University College London), Protection and reuse of cultural heritage (chaired by Pengcheng Zeng, Polytechnic University of Milan, and the invited speaker Dr. Yang Song from Zhejiang University), and Anti-fragile urban agriculture (chaired by Marco Rossitti and Isabella Spagnolo, Polytechnic University of Milan, and the invited speaker Prof. Alessandra Oppio from Polytechnic University of Milan). And at the closing ceremony of the conference, Prof. Tianren Yang (the University of Hong Kong) from City+ Network gave an introduction to the “City+ Conference”. This conference provided a wonderful opportunity for researchers to share their knowledge and research experience in the field of urban studies.

The opening ceremony of City+2021 Conference. ↑

A welcome speech given by Prof. Luca Gaeta. ↑

The keynote speech given by Prof. Stefan van der Spek. ↑

The keynote speech given by Prof. Ying Jin. ↑

Theme 1 Smart City and Beyond. ↑

Theme 2 New Form of Participation. ↑

Theme 3 Low-Carbon and Inclusive Cities. ↑

Theme 4 Active Travel and Urban Mobility. ↑

Theme 5 Protection and Reuse of Cultural Heritage. ↑

Theme 6 Anti-Fragile Urban Agriculture. ↑

The closing ceremony of City+ 2021 Conference. ↑

The invited speech given by Prof. Tianren Yang. ↑

The City+ conference began in 2017 with the dedication to become an annual gathering together event for Ph.D. students and early career researchers working on cities. The first City+ conference was sponsored by the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge attracting 70 delegates from five countries. The 2018 City+ was held by the Bartlett School, University College London attracting 110 participants from nine countries. The 2019 City+ was held by the Department of Urbanism, Delft University of Technology attracting 80 Ph.D. students and early career researchers from eight countries. City+, as a platform for communication and collaboration among early-career urban researchers, has developed significantly and generated a broader influence in the last years.