Call for Proposals

Session and Workshop Call for Proposals

The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, December 9, 2022 (11:59 pm, PST).

General Proposal Information

We are inviting leaders and practitioners from around the country and around the world to join us for the 5th Annual Urbanism Next Conference, April 26-28, 2023, in Portland, Oregon. We are excited to return to an in-person event this year and will further explore the impacts emerging technology is having and will continue to have on cities and communities. During our event, we will focus on the Urbanism Next Framework (see below) and the major themes of understanding the impacts of shared mobility technologies, the shift to mobility as a service, the continued growth of e-commerce and urban delivery, and the anticipated deployment of autonomous vehicles.

Proposals are for full sessions or workshops. Full sessions are 60 minutes long, include 3-5 speakers, and should include a variety of disciplines and sectors. Workshops are 3 hours long, have at least 3 organizers, should include a variety of disciplines and sectors, can include some presentation, but should also include engaging activities with workshop participants.

Questions to consider as you frame your proposal:

How are these emerging technologies (the forces of change) impacting land use, urban design, building design, transportation, and real estate?
Why do these changes matter? Specifically, what are the implications for equity, health and safety, the economy, and the environment?
How can these emerging technologies be harnessed to address climate change issues and reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
How can cities and community leaders address the challenges associated with these emerging technologies and take advantage of the opportunities they present?
What role should governments and governance play in the deployment and scaling of these technologies? And what are the roles of different levels of government?
What technologies/innovations can scale, are scaling, or should scale? And which ones cannot, are not, or should not scale? Why? And how do business models, user uptake/interest, and realizable community benefits shape this?
How is emerging transportation technology and/or e-commerce impacting housing?
How should cities and buildings be redesigned in light of the changes we are seeing?
How should the public and private sectors engage communities and with each other about the changes that are happening and what should they do about it?
What truths are emerging around deployments – in terms of opportunities, barriers, use cases, scalability, and uptake?
What are the benefits/challenges of new models such as MaaS, mobility wallets, or mobility hubs?
What updates are there from projects presented at previous Urbanism Next Conferences?
What additional research is needed?

We strongly encourage proposers to create sessions with speakers that span disciplines and draw from the public, private, and academic sectors. Proposals should address issues that planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects, developers, and decision makers are grappling with and/or will grapple with in the future. There is no limit on the number of proposals that can be submitted. We encourage diversity of views, genders, races, and ethnicities in session and workshop proposals.

For more information on the submittal process, conference themes, and information we will need from you, click here.