Urban Age Istanbul Conference 2009
"Understanding Cities"

The Urban Age Conference was held in Istanbul over a two day period on the 5th and 6th of November, 2009. The Mori Memorial Foundation’s Global power City Index (GPCI) was featured in the conference newspaper’s "Understanding Cities" chapter and distributed at the event.

Urban Age Istanbul Conference Newspaper

Article about the GPCI-2009

The Deustche Bank sponsored Urban Age is a conference organized by the London School of Economics (LSE) that promotes research on major cities with highly promising marketability under the theme of "urban space and society." It brings together stakeholders and researchers from a variety of different sectors such as government, industry, academia, and NGOs who are at the forefront in dealing with urban challenges. And it additionally provides them with an opportunity to discuss the "Global agenda as it pertains to the current status and future prospects of the world’s major cities".

Starting in 2005, conferences have been held to date in New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Berlin, Mumbai, and San Paulo, with Istanbul this year becoming the 9th city to host the event. At each seminar, professionals, including researchers studying urban issues, multinational experts, and local stakeholders, engage in spirited discussion and report on matters such as urban strategies and findings from surveys conducted on the host city.

The Mori Memorial Foundation received an invitation from LSE to attend the Urban Age Istanbul Conference held in November of this year. Sent to participate were the foundation’s senior researcher, Yasuyuki Miwa, and GPCI production team member Mr. Muraoka from the Mitsubishi Research Institute, were.

An outline of the Urban Age Istanbul Conference follows below.

Date

November 4 - 6, 2009

Venue

The Marmara Esma Sultan, Istanbul

Participants

Approximately 300 persons dealing with urban issues from government, industry, academia, and NGOs.

Session Program

1. Day One (November 5, 2009)
   　Session 1: Cities in the Global Context
   　Session 2: Cities and Cultures
2. Day Two (November 6, 2009)
   　Session 1: Environment and Cities
   　Session 2: City Visions and Projects

The conference was broadcast by the local media

The GPCI-2009 was also distributed at the conference site

For the keynote presentations such as "33% of city residents live in slums", "75% of the world’s CO2 is emitted by cities", and "the number of informal residents in cities is increasing", the current state of urban space and society as viewed from a global perspective was taken into consideration. And, in accordance with each of the conference’s session themes, a variety of data focused on Istanbul and previous Urban Age Conference host cities was compared, while presentations and discussions on the current state of each city and challenges they should be engaging in took place.
Brief summaries of the content of each session’s presentation and discussion follow below.

Day One - Session 1: Cities in the Global Context

Regarding long term trends in the global economy which provide the setting for the investigation of urban challenges, prospects are different for advanced countries and newly emerging nations such as China and India. Presentations concerning politics in Istanbul and US cities, and changes occurring within cities were given.

Day One - Session 2: Cities and Cultures

The relationship between a city and its people from a democratic perspective was explored. Presentations attempting to extract the DNA of host city Istanbul were given. Angles such as "Istanbul as a Mediterranean City", and "Who does Istanbul belong to? (Who decides which historical landmarks should be lit up at night?)", were discussed.

Day Two - Session 1: Environment and Cities

Regarding the global agenda for urban environmental measures such as "Climate change and cities", and "Alternative transportation promotion measures in the age of OC2 emission reductions", attempts to design a sustainable city using case studies from New York and Istanbul were reported on.

Day Two - Session 2: City Visions and Projects

London’s new strategy for urban development and Istanbul’s urban development policies were discussed. Additionally, under the theme of "The role architecture plays in cities," various projects underway in cities around the world were introduced.

Scenes from Istanbul

It was decided that the next Urban Age Conference would be held in Chicago in September of 2010. Under the primary theme of "The Economy," topics such as disparities (income etc) within cities, the ideal methods for city investment after the economic crisis, and the green economy, will be presented and discussed.

The Mori Memorial Foundation plans to continue taking part in the conference’s planning and the proactive development of supporting activities.

Related Websites

Urban Age WEBSITE