Shaping Smart for Better Cities: Rethinking and Shaping Relationships between Urban Space and Digital Technologies

Alessandro Aurigi is Professor of Urban Design and Associate Dean: Research at the University of Plymouth, UK. He was previously Head of the School of Architecture, Design and Environment at Plymouth. He also worked at Newcastle University where he was Director (Head of Department) of Architecture, and as a lecturer at UCL (UK). His research focuses on the relationships between our increasingly digital society and the ways we conceive, design, and manage urban space, to enhance and support place quality. Alex is a member of the Peer-Review College of the AHRC, and has published widely on the topic of digital technology and urban space.

Nancy Odendaal is Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on three interconnected areas of enquiry: infrastructure development, technology innovation and socio-spatial change in cities. She has published extensively on smart cities, with her research focused on the interface between new technologies and marginalised spaces. Previously, Nancy was based at the African Centre for Cities (at the University of Cape Town), where she coordinated the expansion of the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS), and managed an Africa-wide project on curricula reform of city and regional planning education.