Centre for Contemporary Latin American Studies

Coimbra Group & Grupo Montevideo (AUGM) Summer School: Smart and Inclusive Cities

The Coimbra Group & Asociacion De Universidades Grupo Montevideo (AUGM) present…

‘Smart and Inclusive Cities’ Summer School

The aim of this summer school is to review, discuss and propose means to achieve more inclusive, equal, sustainable and safe cities.

‘Smart cities’ have been the focus of a range of research approaches in the recent past and, although the importance of developing more efficient and connected cities has been widely recognised, in the implementation of smart cities strategies, often the individual and subsequently a varied patchwork of specific communities - all central to these endeavours - are overlooked.

Different models of smart cities strategies can be identified across the globe, from Barcelona to Stockholm, from Sao Paolo to Medellin, from Kigali to Delhi. In order to offer more depth and social awareness to ongoing political trends and research on smart cities, this summer school, and associated workshops, will be led by generating an understanding of the complex networks that interlink:  territory-technology-community-individual.

The student-led summer school will interrogate:

What does smart and smartness mean in relation to complex urban, rural and territorial realities which overlap with even more complex sociocultural, political and economic dynamic relations?

How can smart city strategies be implemented, when they depend on a vast technical infrastructure, which often excludes wide layers of society, when looking at the Global South?

How does the Global Urban Age relate to specific communities and the individuals they accommodate?

It will look at the way information and communication technologies can be used to inform the smart city and also to include ‘disadvantaged’ groups of society, who are left out due to their lacking connectivity to the digital grid.

The summer school will be structured around the following thematic workshops:

  1. Technology, Politics and Space
  2. Experimental Experiences for Smart Cities
  3. Digital Individuality and Corporate Ownership – Hacking the System
  4. Materiality of the Smart City
  5. Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities
  6. Social Computing, Sensing and IoT for Smart Cities
  7. Smart Cities and Energy Systems

There will also be three parallel, roundtable discussions:

  • International migration and the city
  • National and international migration in the context of economic and social development
  • The role of international agencies in developing policy for national and international migration

Registration

Registration for the event is now open:

Completed applications should be sent to s.garcia@ed.ac.uk, attaching any relevant supporting documents, such as a supporting statement from your School.

Funding

Scholarship applications are welcomed:

Completed applications should be sent to s.garcia@ed.ac.uk, attaching any relevant supporting documents, such as a supporting statement from your School.

Fee

£100 (This fee does not apply to members of AUGM or Coimbra Group)

Participants

Academics from AUGM and the Coimbra Group.

Open to postgraduate students on both taught and research-led programmes.

If you would like to participate in, or contribute to, the summer school, please note your interest by emailing Soledad Garcia Ferrari indicating your area of expertise (if you are an academic participant) or your subject of studies (if you are a student participant).

Timetable

24th January 2018 – draft programme and website available

27rd April 2018 – *EXTENDED* deadline for staff participants in the delivery of the summer school

27rd April 2018 – *EXTENDED* deadline for scholarship applications

11th May 2018 – announcement of scholarship awards

Organisers

The summer school is jointly organised by Dr Soledad Garcia-Ferrari and Dr Cristina Nan, both at the University of Edinburgh.

The Coimbra Group and the University of Edinburgh

The Coimbra Group is an association of long-established European universities committed to creating academic and cultural ties.

The network promotes internationalisation, multidisciplinary academic collaboration, research and teaching excellence and service to society.

Founded in 1985, the Coimbra Group aims to influence European educational policy and develop best practice through mutual exchange of experiences.

The University of Edinburgh is part of the Coimbra Group and hosted its Annual Conference & General Assembly in 2017.

Related links

The Coimbra Group

Asociacion De Universidades Grupo Montevideo

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Coimbra Group & Grupo Montevideo (AUGM) Summer School: Smart and Inclusive Cities

Reviewing, discussing and proposing means to achieve more inclusive, equal, sustainable and safe cities.