CONNECTING CITIES CONFERENCE @ ARS ELECTRONICA

// 3rd September 2015

// @ Conference Square, Ars Electronica

This year's Ars Electronica Festival, taking place from September 3 to 7 in Linz, topic is 'Post City'. It is an inquiry into how cities of the future will have to be configured when there are more robots than people working in factories, everything is intelligently interlinked, autos drive autonomously and drones deliver the mail. And what does it mean for future megacities — above all, those on seacoasts — when climate change really does shift into high gear? The rethinking of urban living spaces has already begun — all over the world, people are coming up with exciting ideas for new architectures and forms of social organization that are able to keep up with the changes the next few decades will bring.

On September 3rd the Connecting Cities Conference will be staged from 10am to 3:30pm at Ars Electronica's Conference Square. By welcoming the Connecting Cities Network partner, this symposium presents a wide spectrum of impressive speakers. European urban identities, social changes and citizen participation occupy the focal point of this first symposium at the 2015 Ars Electronica Festival.

Kicking things off is Derrick de Kerckhove’s (CA) keynote address on connected intelligence. This will be followed by statements in which participants in the Future Innovators Summit and the Connected Intelligence Atelier introduce themselves personally and outline their ideas about the city. Urban planner and theoretician Dietmar Offenhuber (AT) will then discuss criticism of the Smart City concept, participation and socalled civic technologies. Following another round of presentations by FIS and CIA participants, representatives of XXLab will report on their experiences holding do-it-yourself workshops for people in rural Indonesia. Wrapping things up will be a round-table discussion of the various point brought up in Connecting Cities presented by Berlin based curator Susa Pop from Public Art Lab. This will also be an opportunity for network members to elaborate on their experiences to date.

For further information, please have a look at the site of Ars Electronica 2015.