Ellen van Bueren

Keynotespeaker:

Designing activating pathways for urban transition

The three themes of the conference, active citizenship & smart city infrastructure; design, technology and digitalization; and circular economy and entrepreneurship, have in common that they all express expectations on what our future cities will look like, but also sketch the pathways that will lead us there. Design will play a crucial role in all three: it will help us to imagine the future. It will do so not just in final images, but also in the form of procedures and safeguards that will help us to navigate the transitional stages of development. Based on her research on circular economy, sustainable urban technologies, and living labs, Ellen van Bueren will discuss the promises and pitfalls of future city pathways, and how designing activating pathways, pathways that mobilize data, people, and places, will be key in delivering urban transitions.

Bio

Ellen van Bueren is professor of Urban Development Management at Delft University of Technology’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. Her research and teaching focuses on the governance and management of sustainable urban development, and aims to develop usable approaches, practices, methods and tools addressing the multi-level and multi-stakeholder dynamics of planning and decision-making in the urban and built environment. Urban living labs, circular development of the built environment and climate adaptation fostering resilience of cities and regions have her particular attention. She is involved in multiple national and international transdisciplinary environments for research and education, including the AMS Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability, a post-initial MSc City Developer, the NWO Transitions and Behaviour programme TranCiBo – Transitions for Circular Built Environment, and the recently awarded NWO-programme Islanders at the Helm, on climate adaptation in the Caribbean.