14.00 - 14.45 Keynote 1: Arie Voorburg

The transitional moment (UM)

Cities are confronted with increasing globalization, trespassing geobiophysical boundaries and the importance of innovation, economic transition, rewriting the social contract and dynamic design. 

The anticipated global population of more than 9.7 billion by 2050 poses daunting challenges from providing sufficient energy, food, and water, as well as health care more accurately and at lower cost, to trespassing bio-geophysical boundaries. The complex interactions between economic, social and technological dynamics are volatile and nonlinear, which makes a city system complex and unpredictable. As the fastness of modern life in metropolitan areas creates the definite standards for vital space, one of the most important criteria of urban quality is its functionality and the ability to anticipate and prepare for changes and potential threats. 

PART 1, THE STATE WE ARE IN; WELCOME IN THE ANTHROPOCENE 

Urban areas / cities are in principle extremely effective and efficient systems as a representation of GNP. At the same time, however, they are also the main cause of biophysical strain (a number of tipping points have already been exceeded) of the global ecosystem, and global, national and regional eco and circulation systems are under pressure. Migration patterns are changing, energy, food and water are valuable scarce goods, and technological developments are accelerating. A number of uncertain factors play a role in this, such as an unstable economy, social processes of exclusion, geopolitical structures on the move, changing demographics and resource scarcity. 

But these aspects are also potential opportunities and development perspectives; especially if we involve nearby developments. 

PART 2, THE OPPORTUNITIES/POSSIBLE FACES OF CHANGE 

Value for development bio-geophysical composition and processes 

TECHNOLOGY. The rapid development of so-called NBIC technologies – nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science – are giving rise to possibilities that have long been the domain of science fiction. The era of intelligent machines holds much promise. The future could be one of stronger and more inclusive growth or ... a dystopian -but preventable- future. 

Arie Voorburg, working at Arcadis Europe Innovation & Business Development and (guest) lectures at several universities. Traveled and gained life experience as an officer in the (merchant) navy. Once ashore, he immersed himself in studies of system ecology (co-evolutionary complex systems, quantum biology), biophysics and philosophy and became fascinated by the urban phenomenon; the city in all its facets. Arie has been active for 30 years in the fields of ecology, biodiversity, sustainable development and complex –urban- systems. 

Bio Arie Voorburg

15.00 - 15.45 Keynote 2: Jordi Linares

New interaction technologies based on AR and AI and their role in a smart city 

The fundamental objective of the technologies and services of a smart city is to offer its citizens new services and possibilities never before available. The collection of large volumes of information, its processing, and the use of the new possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, allow improving the resources and services management of the city. Additionally, these new possibilities put new tools in the citizen's hands that can significantly improve their life in the city.

One of the technologies that, together with AI, that can be equally disruptive is augmented reality (AR). 

AR potentially provides citizens with new senses. New synthetic elements that, superimposed on what their own senses capture from the environment of their city, can provide citizens with a new vision and perception of their city, its services, and their way of interacting with them. This is totally possible today with mobile devices and it will be improved in short with a new range of specific devices (such as smart glasses). 

If these possibilities are interesting for each and every one of the citizens, they are even more for those of greater age or functional diversity. In these cases, the information perceived by wearable sensors or by other sensors in the city's own infrastructure can, after being properly processed by AI models (machine and deep learning), offer additional vital information for the total independence of these citizens and their interaction and life in the city environment. 

The role of a careful design of AI models, based on the latest possibilities of deep learning, is essential so that the great information captured is converted into elements with meaning. Information from sensors and other sources must be processed to extract meaning, in what we call a semantic layer. This semantic layer, based on AI, can extract relevant information based on the user's profile and its possible functional diversity, and being offered in the most convenient way, either visually using traditional AR, or through natural language using the latest NLP techniques. 

In the keynote, the current state of the art of these technologies will be detailed and the importance of the latest techniques in AI, AR, and the great synergy produced in their combination in the context of a smart city will be highlighted. And, especially, advantages of the proposed solution will be focused as an element that allows a greater degree of independence of any type of citizen, and allowing a new unprecedented way of living in a more and more complex city, no matter the citizen’s profile. 

Jordi is:

BSc. MSc. in Computer Science (Universitat Politècnica de València) PhD. in Computer Science (Universitat Politècnica de València)
MSc. in Free Software (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)
MSc. in Artificial Intelligence (Universidad Internacional de la Rioja) 
Leader of the research group VertexLit focused on Human-Centered AI, and Human-Computer Interaction (VR/AR/XR), that belongs to the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence VRAIN

Associate Professor in Universitat Politècnica de València Campus of Alcoi, where his main research and teaching activity is focused on interactive technologies, VR/AR and Artificial Intelligence. 

Bio Jordi Linares