This CURE / cities@manchester forum will address the question – “How can future-oriented research help pro-visioning UK cities build resilience & prosperity in the coming decades?”
Date and time: Wednesday 24th June 2015, 5-7pm, followed by reception.
Location: Samuel Alexander Building, Arts Theatre & Foyer
Keynote speaker: Professor Sir Alan Wilson, University College London (Chair of Lead Expert Group of the Government Office of Science Foresight on Future of Cities).
Contributing speakers on the panel: Mark Atherton (AGMA), Prof. Stefan Bouzarovski (CURE), Nicola Headlam (University of Liverpool), Nicola Kane (TfGM), Andrew Karvonen (CURE/Cities), Prof. Ian Miles (Manchester Business School), Prof. Kevin Morgan (Cardiff University), Saska Petrova (CURE), Sally Randles (Manchester Business School), Prof. Colin Talbot (Manchester Business School, Prof. Mark Tewdwr-Jones (GURU, Newcastle University), Prof. Karel Williams (Manchester Business School).
Chair: Joe Ravetz (CURE)
There are aspirations that our cities can re-emerge as ‘powerhouses’. But behind the rhetoric there are deep concerns – political distrust, low productivity, divided communities, crumbling infrastructure, and structural inequalities. Cities may trade a little more power for a big drop in resources, and for some the outcome may be as ‘poorhouses’.
In an age of scarcity and change, this calls not only for hard infrastructure, but creative rethinking of how global-local economies and communities can work. This calls for ‘pro-visioning’ future-oriented thinking and strategy, combined with present day social learning and policy innovation.
This is the role of the toolkit known as Foresight. At present, the UK Foresight on ‘Future of Cities’, run by the Government Office of Science, brings together 21 city demonstrations, 24 science-policy studies, national spatial modelling, and multi-level policy advice.
We are now looking at ways to build on this, for the next phase of City Foresight. There are many possibilities: strategic futures and policy intelligence, universities in the knowledge economy, new research paradigms, smart / ‘wise’ socio-technical systems, big data with promises & perils, new complexity sciences, and so on.
In this Forum we bring together some of the most active players from around the UK to explore this space of opportunities. We invite speakers to (briefly) address the question – ‘how can future-oriented research help pro-visioning UK cities build resilience and prosperity in the coming decades’? An open discussion explores ways forward: followed by a review of work around the UK, with next steps in the shape of the City Foresight Platform.
All welcome, but please RSVP to Joe Ravetz
Download the event flyer on http://gm2040.com/news-events-2/
People and Energy Collective 