The 4th International ICLEI Urban Research Symposium
8-12 April 2015 – Seoul, Republic of Korea

 

Leading urban sustainability researchers will convene at the ICLEI World Congress to drive forward current debates in international policymaking and sustainable development. We invite interested researchers and experts to submit abstracts which reflect either active research contributions or research-practice collaboration in these fields.

 

Thematic priorities for the 2015 Symposium include:

– Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals at the urban level: We wish to bring research-practitioners together to discuss what is needed to implement the new SDGs at the urban level. Where will research need to be done? How can researchers and practitioners cooperate to effectively roll out strategies to promote further sustainable development? How can research be used to identify such strategies?

– Urban NEXUS; Intersectoral approaches to urban sustainable development: Discuss the benefits of and challenges to inter-sectoral approaches to urban sustainable development, using the learnings and experiences already made with the Urban Nexus project and approach. Where is further research needed to aid practitioners in implementing inter-sectoral approaches? How can results be best measured to report on the successes of inter-sectoral approaches and further improve them?

–  Monitoring, Reporting, and Verifying; Performance driven urban sustainability: In the past 25 years, the world has seen urban sustainable development blossom from a radical, fringe concept to a mainstream element of urban planning. How can research help leading cities place a stronger emphasis on measurable and verifiable performance of their sustainable development policies and initiatives?

–  Think Tanks for Cities: How and from where do innovative local governments get inspiration and access to global best practice?

The 2015 Symposium will emphasize interaction with the core program of the ICLEI World Congress, within which researchers are invited to collaborate and communicate with civic leaders from all over the world. In addition, the Symposium will provide a researcher-focused agenda in dedicated time slots.

 

Abstract and paper submission information:

Following the Opening Meeting of the 4th International Researchers’ Symposium (April 8th, 2015), researcher participation will be integrated with the ICLEI World Congress 2015 schedule. This approach reflects the complementary overlap between the Researchers’ Symposium themes and World Congress themes, which can be viewed in more detail here.

Abstracts (of no more than 300 words) are invited on the topics outlined above, or on others which fall within the thematic scope of the World Congress. Abstracts will be accepted from November 15 to December 15, and should clearly state the purpose, results and conclusions of the work to be described in the presentation and final paper.

For more info and instructions for abstract submission, see the Call for Abstracts.