City of the Future – the buzzword might remind you of the futuristic film sets of legendary production designer Ken Adams, or of utopian novels with flying cars and flashing billboards on skyscrapers as high as the Tower of Babel. While literature and movies often reproduce architectural megalomania, they are still drawing from the already imaginable. Actually, the future has already started!

More and more people are moving to the cities. It is assumed that this is where the prototype for the “good life” is created – or its extreme opposite, the Juggernaut... Whether in terms of climate adaptation, energy providers, affordable housing, sustainable mobility, health, immigration or demographic change: in the cities, all these issues appear as if under a magnifying glass. And since it is important to be tackle these challenges open-mindedly, as not all paths necessarily lead to the “smart” city, the Science Year has placed the future of cities into the focus of its activities in 2015.

So we are very pleased to announce our renewed partnership with the Science Year. At re:publica 2015, like in the year before, there will be a sub-conference discussing these questions at the intersection of urban life and technology. It will not only focus on smart sensors or the extensive networking of public spaces, but also on methods of participation – urban planning on a big scale, or in a minute detail. We are happy to have the Science Year as our partner again in 2015.

So a special call, within the Call for Papers, is aimed at urbanists, sustainability researchers, and hackers. The question is: How do you want to live?

What do the neighbourhoods of the future look like? How will new technologies be employed in ways that improve coexistence and exchange? This can also relate to public administration, resource management, or the various uses of public space. Playing, designing and dreaming permitted! For the City of the Future our Call for Papers has been extended until Feburary 20, 2015!

Even beyond the evaluation of the submissions, we will invite outspoken experts from all over Europe to design their future city for us. More information on all events surrounding the Science Year can be found here.

Science Year 2015 – City of the Future

The Science Year 2015 – City of the Future shows the ways in which research can enable the sustainable development of cities. Scientists develop smart solutions to major social challenges in collaboration with citizens, communities and enterprises. Whether in terms of climate adaptation, energy security, employment or social interaction, solutions need to be implemented at the local or communal level. The Science Years are an initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF, in cooperation with “Wissenschaft im Dialog” (Science in Dialogue), and promote the communication between research and the public.