Workshops

Presented in 2021 - Monday October 4 - 8:30 to 10am ET
(8:30 to 10pm in Taiwan)

What if new technologies enabled a completely different kind of collaboration in the design of urban spaces? Imagine a city of the future that is not only envisioned and experienced but also shaped collectively. At the CityScienceLab at HafenCity Universität in Hamburg, we have been working towards precisely such ideas in different projects that design and implement solutions at the interface between social and technical sciences and promote dialogue between science, politics, civil society and business in all steps of the process.

This workshop will foster the area of multi-stakeholder collaboration from different perspectives with insights from three projects and will discuss some of the core problems with the participants. It will also give some short demonstration of the ongoing work with VR and AR (PaKOMM), the building of Digital Twins for a city (CUT) and the modular webkit for social infrastructure (COSI).

Format: This workshop fosters three different approaches towards multi-stakeholder collaboration in ongoing projects of the CSL Hamburg, starting with short demonstrations (15 min each) followed by a discussion.
Presented by the team from HafenCity University led by Gesa Ziemer.

Presented in 2021 -Tuesday October 5 - 7 to 8:30am ET
(7 to 8:30pm in Taiwan)

When considering sustainable cities and communities one must consider carbon output. Countries around the world are setting new goals regarding peak emissions and carbon neutrality. New urban systems are being designed and tested to achieve this goal. In most cases, the new systems still adopt a top-down approach with most decisions made and evaluated by authorities. Can we create a decentralized urban paradigm, where every member in a community has the chance to contribute to sustainability goals while earning rewards? Can this system empower every citizen with a platform to voice opinions and make decisions?

In this workshop, we will explore possibilities in the context of China, a country that aims to achieve peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Participants will actively participate in a new process to design a decentralized system to tackle issues including transportation choice, energy production, recycling and upcycling, and urban renewal. Through establishing incentive policies, blockchain protocols and local token economies, they will explore the efficiency, possibilities and operation of a decentralized urban system. Using this hyper-local context as a testbed, we hope to initiate a toolbox and system that can inspire sustainable development of cities and communities.

Presented by the team from Tongji University College of Design and Innovation led by Yongqi Lou.

Presented in 2021 -Tuesday, October 5 - 8:30 to 10am ET
(8:30 to 10pm in Taiwan)

How can we measure the impact of hyper LOCAL solutions to GLOBAL problems if taken to scale? In this workshop, the MIT team, led by Kent Larson, will propose schematic ideas for a new model that could evaluate this potential, and your critique and contribution could directly impact the future of this research.

Format: This workshop will consist of a presentation from the MIT team followed by breakout rooms led by MIT facilitators.
Presented by the team from MIT City Science led by Kent Larson.

Presented in 2021 -Wednesday October 6 - 8:30 to 10am ET
(8:30 to 10pm in Taiwan)

In just the last decade, personal data has become the foundation of a trillion-dollar global industry. The sector has grown in wild-west fashion, as the pace of technology has outstripped citizens’ understanding of how their data is used and regulators’ ability to govern the market. Consumer mistrust, government action and market competition are converging forces towards a clear endpoint: citizens and communities will exercise full control over their personal data, including what they agree to share and who they share it with. During this workshop, we will explore how these new dynamics can contribute to community-level economic growth.

We will demonstrate and discuss some of the researched practices to store, share and synthesize community data to enable micro-economic growth. We will review data sharing dynamics between households, small businesses and other entities on a community level and we will discuss how such dynamics can be used to introduce healthy competitive behaviors between communities to track and advance ESG Goals.

In this workshop, we will also be introducing a case study and participating in a design and analyses process to critique our thinking process.

Format: Opening statements followed by a case study workshop
Presented by the team from Ryerson University led by Hossein Rahnama.

Presented in 2021 -Thursday October 7 - 7 to 8:30am ET
( 7 to 8:30pm in Taiwan)

The Biosphere reserve and the Living Lab frameworks may offer a platform to local communities to set and implement goals related to the SDG’s. This creates a possibility for impact and an opportunity to enable more sustainable and resilient communities. This workshop aims to explore the potential of these frameworks while also exploring possibilities for efficient interventions in urban and local communities.

Format: Keynote talks followed by discussion

Presented by the team from the Andorra Innovation Hub led by Marc Pons.

Presented in 2021 -Presented in 2021 -Thursday October 7 - 8:30 to 10am ET
(8:30 to 10pm in Taiwan)

According to UN-Habitat over 1 billion people (23.5% of global urban population in 2019) live in informal settlements yet these communities are seldom analyzed from the perspective of their inhabitants. Who are they? What stories do they have? Why and how did they get there? Moreover, we rarely, if ever, empathize with the people in these communities. If we did we might ask: What would happen if we had to live in a slum? What would we do? How would we solve our primary needs? How would we protect ourselves from inclement weather? How would we move and carry out our daily activities? What would we provide for our children?

In this workshop we will immerse ourselves in the lives of three women who live in an informal settlement in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. We will learn how they live and try to solve one of their particular challenges related to energy consumption, water sanitation, food production or daily mobility. We will collaborate, discuss and play in hopes to offer innovative and low-cost technological solutions that can improve their daily lives.

Format: Presentations and breakout groups according to specific challenges
Presented by the team from the University of Guadalajara led by Mayra Gamboa.

Presented in 2021 -Friday October 8 - 7 to 8:30am ET
(7 to 8:30pm in Tawian)

This workshop features two parallel sessions focused on how hyper-LOCAL solutions can have GLOBAL global impact. These sessions will be conducted in parallel.

Session #1 will focus on autonomous delivery systems. Professor Leehter Yao will present two research projects. First, an autonomous delivery robot agent that is capable of operating in low-speed urban environments. Second, an autonomous charging robot that brings on-demand charging service to electric scooters.

Session #2 exhibits a novel methodology for analyzing the urban heat island effect for the tropical regions and new materials for solar radiation absorption and emission. The session will highlight the heat-island structure and address the issues we face, e.g., solar radiation, thermal capacity, air enthalpy, thermal comfort, radiant cooling, urban vertical and horizontal wind fields. In this workshop, Professor Chih Hong Huang will demonstrate how to aggregate environmental data from various sources into an interactive platform.

Format: This session will begin with two short, high-level presentations. The participants will then break into small groups led by Taipei Tech and MIT facilitators. Participants will discuss and brainstorm about how the presented ideas could craft a better tomorrow.