International Conference on Evolving Cities & Towns
(ICEC 2023)
University of Southampton, hybrid, 12-14 September 2023
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.

Contributors to the conference

Cllr Roz Chadd
Deputy Leader of Hampshire County Council

Dr Debbie Chase
Director of Public Health, Southampton City Council

Cllr Satvir Kaur
Leader of Southampton City Council to give welcome speech

Eng Isaac Kiva
Secretary, Renewable Energy, State Department for Energy, Ministry of Energy & Petroleum, Kenya

Prof William Powrie
Professor of Geotechnical Engineering to give a talk on coastal cities and towns

Dr Alan Whitehead
Labour MP for Southampton, Test and Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero
Click on a panel to see the topic & contributors
Collaboration and co-creation panel

Evolving cities as complex systems panel

Frameworks for flourishing panel

Inspiring change & urban transformation panel

For the 2023 conference we organised the programme around three ‘meta’-themes that cut across our established eight conference topics.
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.
The final theme will be centred around collaboration and co-creation. Recognising the urgency of the net-zero challenge, this theme will examine how relevant stakeholders can engage in the creation and implementation of processes and solutions.

ICEC 2023 awards
Presentation and poster awards will be selected by the Scientific Panel

ICEC proceedings & special issues

ICEC is supported by the following organisations
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to submit a full paper?
The ICEC 2023 conference will only require an abstract to be submitted prior to the conference which will be peer reviewed by the Scientific Panel.
All abstracts will be published in a ICEC 2023 Book of Abstracts which will be indexed with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). See https://evolvingcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ICEC2022_BookOfAbstracts.pdf for the ICEC 2022 Book of Abstracts.
Authors of accepted abstracts are invited to submit full papers to be included in the ICEC conference proceedings which will also be indexed with a DOI. Click here for further information or see the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Evolving Cities for the conference proceedings from ICEC 2021.
Will there be conference proceedings?
ICEC 2023 will have a conference proceedings, all authors of accepted abstracts are invited to submit full papers to be included in the proceedings which will be indexed with a DOI. Further infomration, including a paper template can be found here.
See the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Evolving Cities for the conference proceedings from ICEC 2021.
Is financial support available for international students?
The conference is run on a non-profit basis and therefore we cannot offer financial support to attendees, please check the registration rates for the prices and see ICEC 2023 terms and conditions.
What accommodation is available?
There are many hotels in Southampton which are listed on the accomodation page.
We strongly advise participants planning to attend in person assure that their bookings can be cancelled before the conference as unfortunately the ICEC organising committee cannot be held liable for possible losses. See ICEC 2023 terms & conditions
Will the conference provide a letter of invitation for visa applications?
The ICEC 2023 management committee will provide a letter of invitation once you have confirmed your registration. We strongly recommend that you apply for a visa at least two months before your planned travel date to the UK. Please check with your local British High Commission or Embassy for visa processing times and other requirements. Please see ICEC 2023 terms & conditions
