International Conference on Evolving Cities & Towns

The 4th International Conference on Evolving Cities and Towns (ICEC 2023) took place as a hybrid event with over 150 delegates joining in-person and online at the University of Southampton, UK from the 12th – 14th September 2023.  The conference chairs would like to take this opportunity to thank the participants for helping to make ICEC2023 a success. 

Over the course of the three days, there were 4 panels including 16 panelists 3 keynotes, 58 oral presentations and 8 posters by delegates from international and national organisations (see ICEC 2023 Book of Abstracts). Day 1 covered collaboration and co-creation with talks around co-design and civic engagement followed by a panel and a collaborative participatory budgeting game. Day 2 focused on frameworks for flourishing with parallel sessions on liveability, cityscapes of change, human-centric equitable infrastructure and energy systems alongisde 2 panels. The conference concluded with talks on inovations in flexibility and retrofitting accompanied by an interactive interview with a Southampton MP and a panle on inspiring change and urban transformation. Over the three days participants were able to discuss ways to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships and implement innovative solutions to propel cities and towns towards healthier and low carbon pathways. 

This theme is centred around inspiring stories of impact and innovation in cities and towns from around the UK and the world. The theme seeks to learn from leading responses to the challenges of the 21st century, highlighting the potential scale and pace of change.

This theme is intended to open up a discussion around the frameworks within which we understand human (and non-human) flourishing within cities and the value we place on different aspects of the built and natural environment and systems as we transition to net-zero.