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Kevin Ward, Cecilia Wong, and I co-hosted the third Summer Institute in Urban Studies from 27 to 30 June on behalf of cities@manchester. We were very fortunate to have 23 incredibly dynamic and talented early career academics from around the world for an engaging four days of presentations, discussion, workshops and conversation. A big thank you to our guest academics, Tim Bunnell (National University of Singapore), Stephanie Pincetl (UCLA), Andy Jonas (University of Hull) and Fran Tonkiss (LSE), as well as our University of Manchester colleagues who participated in the activities.

I am pleased to announce the publication of a new compendium, The Experimental City (Routledge 2016) that I co-edited with James Evans (University of Manchester) and Rob Raven (Utrecht University). The book provides new insights on what it means to experiment in and on cities with contributions from colleagues in the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, India, and the US. The book is available from the Routledge website here.

On 29 May, I participated in a workshop on Real-World Laboratories (Reallabor) at the Stuttgart Technology University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule für Technik) where I delivered a presentation on ‘Five Challenges of Real World Labs’. The event provided an opportunity for seven real-world labs in Baden-Württemberg to share their experiences and insights on designing, developing, and operating their innovative projects. I also co-hosted a workshop with Michael Stauffacher from ETH Zurich on scientific evidence and knowledge dissemination on real-world labs. Thanks to Niko Schaepke for organising!

I delivered a guest lecture to colleagues in Cosmopolis and MOBI at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel titled ‘From the Sustainable to the Smart City: Complementary or Contradictory Urban Visions?’. We had a very productive discussion about the opportunities and challenges of integrating notions of smart cities and sustainable cities.

I am pleased to report that my PhD student, Ahlam Sharif, successfully passed her PhD viva on ‘Sustainable Architectural Design between Inscription and De-scription: The Case of Masdar City’. Her work on the development and inhabitation of Masdar City’s student housing provides novel insights on how architects, developers, and building users interact in the production of sustainable cities. Congratulations to Ahlam!

While attending a RESIN project meeting in Freiburg, my colleagues and I got a guided tour of the noted sustainable urban district of Vauban. The designers have created a very liveable, vibrant, and dense neighbourhood by moving automobiles to the periphery and providing a wide range of services. The area attracts some 25,000 visitors per year from around the world who are interested in understanding how sustainability principles have been realised on the ground.Definitely worth a visit!

With several colleagues from the Centre for Urban Resilience and Energy, I attended a workshop on ‘Urban Climate and Energy Transformations in Bergen. We were hosted by Håvard Haardstad, Tarje Wanvik, and Stina Oseland from the Spaces of Climate and Energy Laboratory at the University of Bergen. We had a lively two days of discussions about climate change, energy transformations, and justice. We also had a productive session with practitioners from the Bergen municipality.

Gabi Schliwa and I attend the ‘International Symposium on Urban Living Labs‘ at Newcastle University on 25-26 February. The event included an inspiring set of presentations on emerging initiatives in the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, and the USA where researchers are putting the notion of urban living labs into practice. Gabi and I gave a brief presentation on Manchester’s Triangulum project.

Last week, I attended a workshop on co-housing at the University of Sheffield titled ‘Collaborative Housing and Community Resilience‘. As part of the workshop, we conducted site visits of three co-hoousing projects in Sheffield (Fireside Housing Co-operative (pictured above), Open House Project, and Shirle Hill Co-housing). Each of the projects is in a different state of development and each provides different ideas about how to design and manage these alternative forms of living. Great stuff!

I am spending the next three months as a visiting fellow at the Brussels Centre for Urban Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where I will be affiliated with Cosmopolis and MOBI. Beyond the great group of urban researchers here, the city is an amazing source of inspiration. Looking forward to beer, chocolate, and bureaucrats!