EcoCity 2009

13 - 15 December 2009 / Istanbul - Cevahir Convention Center - with pre conference bicycle tour on the 12th

Organizasyon

LANSKON & PF

"Cities Can Save the Earth"

Ecocity World Summit 2009
the 8th International Ecocity Conference

Urban Ecological Foundations for Climate Solutions

Get the city right and everything else has a chance. It's big. It's basic. If our built environment is well organized and well designed, we can go a long way toward solving transport, energy, biodiversity, agricultural and climate problems. This is a rare insight in today's econmoic and environmental debate. It is crucial and this conference is putting it forward at a time of historic necessity.

Why cities?
Cities cover less than 1% of the earth's surface but are responsible for up to 75% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. With more than 50% of the world's population living in cities (set to reach 60% by 2030), there is a ripe opportunity for humanity to reconsider the way we approach the built environment.

Reasons to Attend
Cities are complex, and enacting meaningful change while working with multiple constituencies can be filled with setbacks and frustration. What are the key ingredients for a successful plan that, after months and even years of work, doesn’t end up gathering dust on the shelf or become so watered down that the original vision is lost? What are the basic principles of ecocity design, planning and implementation, and how do they apply to already built out cities as well as new ecocity projects and proposals? Find out how ecocity practitioners — from architects, planners, designers and community organizers to government and political leaders — pull together the right teams of people with good ideas and get their projects up and running, in many cases with limited financial resources and sometimes despite a mountain of political opposition.

Who should attend?
Whether you’re a student, academic, non-profit organization representative, planner, developer, local government official, architect, landscape architect, designer, economist, builder, transportation advocate, or just an interested member of the planetary public — if you care about ecology and cities, this conference has much to offer you. The Ecocity World Summit is an unprecedented opportunity for you to join together with an international community of inspired change-makers who are putting their time and talents to work addressing series problems of the world’s environment with thoughtful and long-range solutions that are truly sustainable, ecologically healthy and socially just.

Themes
The Ecocity Future of Cities, Towns and Villages, Land Use, Architecture and Design, Standards, Metrics and Measures, Transportation, Energy, Nature, Food, Consumption and Population, Business, Government.

Priority Objectives
Leverage Ecocity 2009 to send a message to the United Nations climate change conference that will be concurrently convening in Copenhagen. We're arranging for a live feed from COP15, working with an Istanbul media team and some journalist contacts who will be our conference counterparts in Copenhagen. To date, the UN series has not seriously looked at the form and function of the built environment as an engine of both climate change and climate solutions.

The Ecocity Challenge, a special four-hour session where conference participants will begin to define internationally acceptable principles and metrics against which to evaluate the performance of ecocity projects worldwide.

Speakers to Date

Halit Bozkurt Aran
Permanent Representative from Turkey to the World Trade Organization, Geneva.

Agni Vlavianos-Arvanitis
Founder and President of Biopolitics International Organization, promoting a shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric system of values in society - based in Athens, Greece.

Engin Ayaz
Energy and resources consultant in the Arup’s Buildings team in San Francisco, USA. Engin has an interdisciplinary background in engineering and architecture and focuses on carbon, climate change and informatics in the context of architecture, engineering and planning. Previously, he worked on a sustainability research assignment across five Arup offices. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Engin has a Civil and Environmental Engineering degree from Stanford University and is a LEED accredited professional.

Prof. Dr. Bilsen Beler Baykal
I.T.U. Environmental Engineering, Turkey

Wulf Daseking
Director of Planning, City of Freiburg, Germany, often called one of the greenest cities in the world for its solar energy innovation and ecological approach to living where a third of all journeys are by bicycle.

Marcel Diallo
American musician, poet, artist and community builder, known for his dynamic and creative revitalization efforts in West Oakland, California's historic, predominantly African-American neighborhood.

Prof. Dr. Nilufer Egrican
Yeditepe University, Turkey

Veysel Eroglu
Minister of Environment and Forestry, Turkey.

Dr. Duygu Erten
Cedbik Vice Chairman, Turkey

Parris Glendening
President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and two term past Governor of Maryland, United States of America. As governor, one of his primary agenda items was the development strategy known as Smart Growth, which focuses development in higher density mixed-use centers that work well with transit, save energy and address environmental issues at their foundation.

Arnold J. Goldman
Chairman and Founder of both BrightSource Energy Inc. and BrightSource Industries (Israel), Ltd. (BSII) and was also founder of Luz International, Ltd. which designed, constructed, financed, and operated the world's nine largest Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) which, at the time, generated 90 percent of the world's solar electricity. He holds numerous patents for his inventions and innovations.

Colin Grant
Founder and CEO, Visible Strategies, Vancouver, Canada, Board Member of the International Center for Sustainable Cities, a member of the Vancouver Mayor's Sustainability Council and the Vancouver Climate Leader's Group.

Muammer Guler
Governor of Istanbul

Prof. Dr. Nuran Zeren Gulersoy

Hakan Guley

David Hall
The visionary behind NewVista, a large scale metropolitan concept with the potential to have world-wide economic and social viability and to be massively scalable and ecologically sustainable. He is also CEO of Novatek, specializing in applications for Super Materials, including synthetic diamond.

Walter Hood
Through his pioneering work as an 'urbanist' Hood integrates architectural features such as playgrounds, plazas and squares into city sites whose pasts are vibrant but forgotten. By reflecting the shifting cultural composition and respecting the evolving nature of neighborhoods, he creates an oasis in these areas, and through his close involvement with the local communities, he develops tailored solutions while retaining a cohesive artistic vision.

Janet Larsen
Director of Research at Earth Policy Institute, the think tank founded by Lester Brown advocating for a "Plan B," a systematic approach to planning at all levels of government, especially national, for conservation of resources, biology and climate via major government and education changes around the world.

Jake Levitas
Sustainability Consultant with Arup’s Planning team in San Francisco. His experience in sustainability consulting ranges from applying sustainability to design, construction and operation of urban planning projects and infrastructure to analysis of corporate objectives and implementing sustainability plans for organizations. He has contributed to environmental impact assessment work, as well as both public and private sustainable development projects. He has notable experience with GIS analysis, mapping, and database management in the context of integrated sustainable design.

Ismail Hakki Karace
Gensed CEO

Beng Lee Ong
Director of the Eco-city Project Office in the Ministry of National Development, he helps to formulate policies and programs for the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, and oversees its smooth implementation in close partnership with the relevant Chinese authorities and Singapore agencies, and the joint venture company undertaking the development of the Eco-city.

Suha Ozkan
Founding Chairman of World Architecture Community a Geneva and Istanbul based international consultancy company. WAC has established an internet based interactive World-wide architecture and planning community which has been breaking world records among architectural sites since August 2008.

Richard Register
The world's leading author, illustrator and theorist in ecological city design and planning. He convened the First international Ecocity Conference in 1990 and advised on all subsequent conferences in the series. These events have involved approximately 5,000 people and 625 speakers to dates.

Professor Dr. Ahmet Samsunlu
Former Public Works and Settlement, Minister

Ambika Shukla
Trustee and frequently speaker for People for Animals, the oldest and largest animal welfare NGO in India, which she runs with her sister Maneka Gandhi.

Hiroaki Suzuki
Lead Urban Specialist, Finance Economics & Urban Department, the World Bank. He is the principal author of the Eco2 cities initiative which helps cities in developing countries achieve ecological and economic sustainability.

Sudarshan Tiwari
Architect and cultural historian and scholar of the Katmandu Valley of Nepal. His own interest drew him to the study of Nepali historical architecture, urbanism and conservation, which led to a PhD from Tribhuvan University, Katmandu, for his work on the ancient settlements of Nepal.

Brent Toderian
City of Vancouver's Director of Planning, his broad mandate involves current planning, including the many projects related to the 2010 Winter Olympics and visioning/CityPlans, including the new "EcoDensity" citywide initiative recently adopted by the City.

Orhan Turan
Imsad CEO, Turkey

Suleyman Varlibas
Varlibas Holding, CEO

Rusong Wang
Head of the Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Science and one of the pioneering leaders in ecological city theory and support of those practicing the sciences and arts of ecocity building. He is also a member of the Peoples Congress of China.

Ken Yeang
The world's leading architect in ecological and passive low energy design. He has delivered over 200 built projects and his 'bioclimatic' towers have had an impact around the world, fusing high-tech and organic principles.

Prof. Dr. Zerrin Yilmaz
I.T.U. Architecture

"Peace on Earth, Peace with Earth"