I attended the City Streets 6 conference in Skopje, North Macedonia where the theme as ‘Architecture as Infrastructure – Toward Sustainable, Inclusive and Beautiful City Streets.’ I gave a talk titled ‘Streets as Catalysts of Urban Transformation’ and discussed some of our preliminary findings from the EmbedterLabs project about the summer streets programme in Stockholm. The brutalist architecture in Skopje is fantastic!
It was great to return to London for the Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference. I participated in a book launch of Artificial Intelligence and the City: Urbanistic Perspectives on AI with Federico Cugurullo, Simon Marvin, Mark Whitehead, Ayona Datta, Matthew Gandy, Alan Wiig, and Jennie Day. And then we hosted two paper sessions on ‘Spaces of AI: Artificial Intelligence and Urban Imaginaries. Lots of intriguing discussions about how AI is changing cities and how cities are changing AI!
I am starting a new project titled ‘Energy Resilient Cities (Staden som resilient energisystem)’ with Sara Gustafsson and Dick Magnusson (Linköping University), Filip Johnsson and Maria Taljegård (Chalmers University of Technology), Ulla Janson (Lund University), and Kersti Karltorp (City of Gothenburg). The five-year project is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) and is part of the Graduate School in Energy Systems. We will engage with stakeholders in Gothenburg to co-create context-specific approaches to energy system resilience.
I participated in the Nordic Geographers Meeting in Copenhagen. Daniel Normark, Martin Emanuel, and I co-organised a paper session on ‘Streets as spaces of urban transformation’ while Federico Cugurullo and I organised a book launch and a session on artificial intelligence and cities.
I participated in the 15th International Sustainability Transitions Conference in Oslo. Marc Dijk, Tim Schwannen, and I co-organised three sessions on ‘Learning to transform: Connecting urban experimentation and urban policy mixes better’. Thanks to everyone for your contributions.
I attended the ‘BEYOND SITE/SIGHT: Cultural Spaces and the Conditions of Creativity‘ conference at the former fire station in the Gåsebäck neighbourhood of Helsingborg. The three-day conference was hosted by the cross-disciplinary network CROCUS – Cultural Spaces and the Conditions of Creativity and involved a multifaceted discussion about the various opportunities to support cultural sector through placemaking. Some of the participants provided reflections on their practice here.
I am co-editing a special issue of Urban Planning on ‘Streets as Platforms of Public Life’ with Jenni Cauvain and Antonella Bruzzese. The special issue will engage with how streets are being (re)configured as public spaces, and what the implications are for residents, practitioners, and scholars. The deadline for abstracts is 15 March 2025. More information here.
It was a pleasure to participate in the final event for the ‘Humanizing the Sustainable Smart City (HiSS)‘ project at the Tekniska Museet in Stockholm. The two-day programme included presentations by a wide range of academics and practitioners on the opportunities and risks of digitalising society. I delivered a presentation on ‘Governing Cities through Innovation.’ Thanks to Hedvig Kellström, Vladimir Cvetkovic, Kalle Johansson, Pawel Herman, Cecilia Katzeff, Marco Molinari, and Mikael Skoglund for organising the event!
The EmbedterLabs project team travelled to Santander to engage with Cecilia Ribalaygua Batalla and colleagues at the Universidad de Cantabria. We met with representatives of the municipal government to discuss their Santander Capital Natural project that includes a climate change plan, a biodiversity strategy, a green infrastructure plan, and multiple citizen engagement activities. They noted a strong emphasis on health and well-being as a driver for their climate resilience actions. We look forward to seeing how this project develops in the coming years.
Northern Sweden has emerged as an ideal location for new data centres owned by large tech companies. On Friday, I participated in the doctoral defense of Cristina Ramos Caceres at Luleå Technical University. Her thesis, ‘Applying Industrial Ecology in Urban Planning for the Local Integration of Data Centres‘ examined the planning implications of data centres and the opportunities to use excess heat for greenhouses and other uses. Congratulations to Cristina on a fantastic study!
Andrew Karvonen 