18-02-2010, Source: Future Cities 2010

High-speed, high-bandwidth ICT infrastructures and ubiquitous and pervasive computing add an information and communication layer to the built and the social environments of today’s cities. This layer is bound to radically transform cities into dense, highly integrated, seamless and hybrid socio-technical ecosystems of people, communities, knowledge and technology. These ecosystems rely on complex interactions between human users, hard- and software, and formal and informal institutions of society. At the same time, cities as the places of the highest concentration of human population very intensely face the challenges of current and future societal, technical an environmental development, transformation and evolution, such as sustainability, resilience, citizen participation, or the public domain. ICT can act as an enabler and as a driver for or indeed as a barrier to city transformation. It can foster seamless or disruptive development; its complexity might hinder fast progress, and legacy technology might impede change. And finally, technology never exists in isolation, but in social, political and environmental contexts that have evolved over time and keep evolving into the future. As such, the topic of future cities and ICT blends into questions of future Internet, energy supply, transportation, education, social equality, urban planning, multimodal transport, smart cities/smart home and many more.

FUTURE CITIES 2010 will provide a forum for a wide array of individuals and professional groups involved and interested in the topics related to the general theme of the conference. Conference attendees will represent worldwide educational and scientific organizations conducting research within the domain of urban planning, national authorities and ministries involved in funding future cities related projects, global and continent wide regulatory organizations influencing regional policy-making mechanisms and private entities offering technological solutions.  The following groups will be represented at the event:

FUTURE CITIES 2010 will also feature a thematic program that addresses the following related areas of the conference domain:

Call for papers
The Student Research Competition is an exciting opportunity for students to participate in the Future Cities 2010 conference and make their research visible in the academic world. The competition invites original technical papers or projects. Interested students need to submit a 2-page abstract of their research findings by 1 January 2010. Selected authors will be notified via e-mail by 15 January 2010. Up to 25 entrants will be selected. They will have the op portunity to present their paper in a 10-minute session (each) to a panel of judges on 19 February 2010, during the summit. Selected authors to participate in the student competition will also have to submit a full paper (up to 10 pages) and power point slides for a 15-minute presentation by 31 January 2010. Entrants must be undergraduate or graduate students. They must be sole authors of their abstracts. Please note that the judges will look more favorably on complete, or nearly complete, work than research which is still in its early formative stages.

Important dates
Paper abstract submission: 1  January 2010
Authors’ notification: 15 January 2010
Final presentation submission: 31 January 2010
Conference dates: 18-19 February  2010

Submission guidelines
Please submit your 2-page abstract as an attachment to studentcompetition@icst.org
For formatting specifications and required submission information, please follow the Paper Submission Format

Intercontinental Malta: ST Georges Bay • St. Julians, STJ 3310 • MALTA
Tel: +356-21-377600 • Fax: +356-21-372222