2nd International Conference on Urban Growth and the Circular Economy
9–11 September 2020
Online
Overview
With the main objective to preserve our delegates’ wellbeing, but also with the belief that the scientific community should not be stopped, WIT decided that Urban Growth 2020 should not take place as scheduled, in Bilbao, Spain, but take place as an online event instead.
The conference was organised by the Wessex Institute, UK, represented by Dr Stavros Syngellakis, and the University of Siena, Italy.
The conference, which started in Alicante, Spain in 2018 is well-established and always attracts a wide international spread of delegates. The variety of topics covered by the conference reflects the quest for the sustainable city, that has until recently focused on the efficient use of resources with the application of technical advances giving rise to the definition of SMART Cities.
Opening of the Conference
The conference was opened by Professor Santiago Hernández who welcomed the delegates to the event.
Invited Presentations
There were a series of invited lectures on advanced topics of research and applications, as follows:
- “Health and alternative tourism development for the island of Crete”, by Dr Dimitris Prokopiou, University of Piraeus, Greece.
- “The Potential impact of information systems tackling the Sustainable Development Goal 10 on the dimensions of health care and gender” by Prof Roman Brandtweiner, Vienna University of Economics & Business, Austria.
- “Cultural heritage and interoperable open platforms: strategies for knowledge, accessibility, enhancement and networking” by Prof Danila Longo, University of Bologna, Italy.
Conference Sessions
The papers presented during the conference were classified under the following headings:
- Sustainable tourism
- Sustainable Development conceptualizations
- Water and flora management
- Information technologies for sustainable development and planning
- Sustainable energy, mobility and industry
- City planning
- Cultural heritage and quality of life
- Climate change and rural areas development
Conference Publication
Papers presented at this conference are published in Vol. 241 of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment (ISSN 1743-3541). Papers presented at the meeting are available Open Access in the eLibrary of the Wessex Institute (https://www.witpress.com/elibrary) from where they can be freely downloaded by any interested parties.
A few papers were selected for publication in the International Journal of Energy Production and Management, International Journal of Transport Development and Integration and International Journal of Environmental Impacts.
Closing of the Conference
We are very sorry that we were not able to meet our delegates in person this year.
WIT is aware that one of the benefits of the conferences is the networking among colleagues and the only reason for implementing this strategy is the exceptional circumstances created by the covid-19 crisis. Thus, to allow the authors to maintain that capability, delegates registered at Urban Growth 2020 who had their paper accepted for publication, will be able to attend the next conference in the series (or a different conference of their choice devoted to similar topics that takes place prior to that) free of charge, and if they wish, make an oral presentation of their published paper.
Related Conferences
Water and Society 2021, 19–21 May 2021
Sustainable City 2021, 5–7 October 2021