Silk Cities 2017 Conference Update:
Silk Cities is pleased to announce that three workshops have been added to the Conference programme. They are listed below.
1- Preservation and Urban Planning in Practice
The panel will discuss practical issues of preservation and urban planning in historic cities. What are the overlapping issues, challenges and opportunities? Invited panellists will share their experience and insight on practical aspects of linking cultural heritage to urban development planning and the interconnected roles of international, national and local institutions.
2- Reconstruction of War-torn Silk Roads Cities
The panel will discuss Silk Roads cities ravaged by war that will require reconstruction. Aleppo and Mosul are two examples of those cities. Beyond monuments, the challenge of post-war reconstruction exists on destructed traditional buildings, neighbourhoods and historic city centres which had specific characteristics, from morphology to architectural typology. These cities could be further damaged by haphazard planning decisions. Can we connect the past, present and future of those cities in an extremely complex and uncertain situation if at all?
3- Silk Roads Cities as Smart Cities
The panel will connect the notion of smart cities and urban historic characteristics. Invited panellists will discuss if and how existing historic Silk Roads cities can be used as a basis to becoming smart cities. The panel critically examines an example of smart pedestrian network modelling in the context of Silk Roads cities that envisions an intelligent and integrated urban growth where economic, social and environmental concerns must be carefully balanced.