URBANIZATION KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM

TelePresence Series on the use of ICT in Urban Development

Objective: To foster a series of tightly-focused knowledge exchanges on the use of ICT tools and resources in Urban Development. This collaborative effortled by the World Bank, Cisco, and the Urban Age Instituteis designed to engage government officials, private sector organizations, international development agencies, academics and non-government organizations in a video-based, collaborative process of planning and critical thinking about how best to design and develop 21 st century sustainable urban areas and cities. The aim is to convene a global community of peers, to debate and learn from some of the leading thinking around innovative urban projects.

Event Topics 1. May 17 , 2011: Community Service Frameworks

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What are the steps to smart and connected communities?

2. June 15th, 2011: Opening Urban Data

Platforms for service creation and decision making.

3. July 12th, 2011: Work-Life Innovation

What do changes in our lives, work, social experiences mean for urban development?
Cisco has committed to support the entire video dialogue series using its TelePresence facilities in several cities worldwide. This technology offers large screens with participants displayed life-size, and a great fluidity of interaction with no time delay.

Goals of the Knowledge Exchange series

Promote greater knowledge exchange and coalition-building Engage a wider stakeholder community on the innovations needed to accelerate sustainable urban development Develop a new set of tools and resources which can help to leverage advances in ICT; pilot the technology for this type of knowledge exchange Drive greater innovation and results, especially through the creation of more collaborative and productive Public-Private Partnerships

Session Format:
1.5 hour TelePresence session linking at least 10 global locations. 5 opening points of view (5 mins each, maximum), from defined presenters, to initiate a dialogue amongst all attendees. Professionally moderated by informed and experienced conveners. To be recorded, and available for later viewing and reuse.

Series Moderators
Gordon Feller - Board Member, Urban Age Institute and Director Urban Innovation, Cisco Systems Greg Clark - Advisor and Moderator for Urbanization Knowledge Platform Tim Campbell - Chairman Urban Age Institute

17th May 2011 1. Community Service Frameworks what are the steps to smart and connected communities?
Moderator: Gordon Feller, Board Member, Urban Age Institute and Director, Urban Innovation, Cisco Systems If we believe the hype, connected urban information systems can yield lower costs of service provision, and social utility too. Technically, we are reaching the point where it's possible to join information on urban services, infrastructure, public transport and other utilities- and allow each of the systems to talk to each other to improve efficiency and performance. But now that we have the technical capability, what are the concrete steps needed to achieve those objectives? What planning and implementation would cities need to undertake? And what components of such a program are most cost-effective for lower-income and smaller cities? Moreover, what makes sense at different stages of development? These questions will be explored from the perspectives from some leading thinkers on urban systems, from several city administrations, World Bank, Cisco and city networks.

Event Topics

15th June 2011 2. Opening Urban Data Platforms for service creation and decision making
Moderator: Greg Clark, Advisor and Moderator for Urbanization Knowledge Platform The move towards open public sector information presents greater opportunities for transparency, participation and engagement across urban communities. The opportunities, challenges and directions this takes us, however are largely still to be discovered. How can urban data be sourced beyond public institutions? What policy decisions are required, and what mechanisms exist to enable heterogeneous data flows? What platforms are emerging to be able to enable better decision making? Where can lower-income cities get involved, and is this a luxury for established institutional frameworks only to grapple with? What evidence of the drive to open data movement are we seeing from small and large communities, and the benefits that are created? These questions will be explored from the perspectives from some leading thinkers on open data initiatives.

12th July 2011 3. WorkLife Innovation: What do changes in our lives, work, social experiences mean for urban development?
Moderator: Tim Campbell, Chairman Urban Age Institute The role of technology in transforming our modes, patterns and definitions of work is profound. We now see such changes directly impacting our personal lives. So the definition of work and our personal lives are now intertwined. This presents great opportunities for communities to enhance their role, for individuals to make flexible choices, and for organizations to respond to. What does Place mean for distributed work, and where are we seeing positive outcomes for communities? Where can technology play a positive role and how can developing cities respond? And what do we see as the future o f work in this n etworked and distributed landscape? These questions will be explored from the perspectives from some leading thinkers on the future of work.

Outputs:
Summary paper, capturing the key messages, available after each event Video on Demand playback available after each event Presentations shared online and available after each event

All outputs shared with wider community at: www.worldbank.org/urban :: www.smartconnectedcommunities.org :: www.cisco.com/go/urban_innovation :: www.urbanage.org

Link to Urbanization Knowledge Platform:

This TelePresence series provides an initial engagement for the forthcoming launch of a wide r Urba nization Knowledge Platform. The Urbanization Knowledge Platform is a collaborative partnership that aims to become a go to hub for knowle dge on how to manage our rural-to-urban transition. Over the ne xt two years, we will roll-out a num ber of core compone nts, including: a rolling se ries of tightly focused knowledge exchanges between peers, amongst practitioners, resea rchers, policymakers, and academicsfocused on very practical questions of how to bring about impact a nd change; an online space for knowledge exchangesparticularly by matching urban civil se rvants through a kind of professional dating service; a data platform for city data. We will be holding a se ries of soft-launch events in the next four months in Sao Paolo, London, Barce lona, Washington DC, Istanbul, Seoul, Singapore, Brisbane, Moscow, Johannesburg, and Bogota.