SENSE Symposium: 'Climate Proofing Cities' (1 December 2009)

The next SENSE symposium will be held on 1 December 2009 in Volendam and is organized around the theme 'Climate Proofing Cities'. The symposium takes place in Van der Valk hotel Katwoude, which is also the venue of the Amsterdam Conference 2009 (which takes place on 2, 3 and 4 December -- see also: http://www.sense.nl/articles/events/4341).

Register for this symposium now! Please click here and follow the instructions.

Including Keynote Speakers: Dr. Michele Betsill and Prof. Pier Vellinga

Climate change may be seen as the largest economic, political, developmental and environmental challenge the world has ever faced. IPCC reports have shown that human activities are altering the atmosphere, and that it is crucial now for decision-makers at all levels to take urgent action.

At the same time, urbanization is creating a growing challenge for cities and urban population centers both as engines of economic activity and as sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The way in which we build and operate cities strongly affects energy use and emissions. For example, the so-called 'urban heat island effect' affects energy use for space conditioning and greenhouse gas emissions, whereas simple measures can be applied to control this effect. Cities are also vulnerable to climate change, since many are located in coastal areas or depend on imported resources such as water and food. Many cities are at the forefront of initiatives for mitigating and adapting to climate change and try to develop creative solutions.

The upcoming SENSE Symposium 'Climate Proofing Cities' provides a major opportunity to discuss key developments for cities in the climate debate with an inspiring international audience. The one-day 2009 SENSE Symposium is organized in close cooperation with the three-day 2009 Amsterdam Conference on the 'Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change', which will take place in the same location on 2-4 December 2009 (for more information, see http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/ac2009 of these two international meetings will allow participation in both events.

The SENSE Symposium on 'Climate Proofing Cities' will start with keynote lectures in the morning, followed by four parallel tracks in the afternoon:
1. Balancing adaptation & mitigation
Keywords: Energy use, transport, resilience
2. Future city design
Keywords: Water, urban nature, urban heat island
3. Greening the city
Keywords: Parks, green roofs, biodiversity, urban nature development
4. Public health and urbanization
Keywords: Air quality, health, new diseases and control

You are invited to submit an abstract of not more than 250 words that contains the core arguments of your presentation as well as your name, affiliation, address and e-mail address and the track number that is most appropriate for the topic of your contribution. A selection of the best papers from the conference will be published in an edited book with an international scientific publisher.

Send your abstract to: frans.van.der.woerd@ivm.vu.nl.

Deadline for abstract submission: 15 September 2009

Timeline
Abstract submission: 15 September 2009
Selection of papers: 1 October 2009
Submission of final paper: 15 November 2009
Symposium: 1 December 2009

The call for abstracts can be downloaded here.

This conference is endorsed by two core projects of the International Human Dimensions Programme, the core project Urbanization and Global Environmental Change and the core project Earth System Governance.