Focus on ecocities in challenging environments

Ecocity World Summit (ECWS), purportedly the longest–running international conference series on sustainable cities, was officially launched on October 11 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), ECWS has announced.

Running until October 13, the Summit, said the organisers, is being led by the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi (EAD), supported by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Urban Planning Council (UPC) and Masdar, and is facilitated by Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) with Abu Dhabi Tourism & Cultural Authority (TCA) as the destination host.

According to ECWS, with a line-up of 17 ministers and government officials as speakers, 22 subject matter experts and up to a dozen people from the academia, the Summit is covering topics like, Building in Hot and Arid Climates – Challenges and Innovation, Eco citizen and the Green Economy, Biomimicry in Architecture and Urban Design, The Local Vision – Leadership Panel, Education for Tomorrow’s Ecocitizens, Living Buildings, Structures and Materials.

Leading the opening ceremony, H.E. Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State and Director General of EXPO 2020 Dubai Bureau, said: “The Ecocity – just like all cities – and just like Expo 2020, is far more than bricks, mortar and steel. It is an idea. When people become sufficiently excited about that idea, they move to that city. That has always been true – just as it is today – with Dubai and Abu Dhabi. So the question is not ‘Should we be building for the future?’ But ‘How should we be building for the future?’ And part of the answer comes from the confluence of new technologies, unprecedented sharing of knowledge, faster processing and endless worldwide innovation. All of which has created a new wave in urban design.”