Local, national, and international experts in green design and transportation, intelligent technologies, environmental sustainability, health and livability, economic development, and government and public policy joined forces on Thursday, February 16, at the inaugural UAB Sustainable Smart Cities Symposium which highlighted smart growth initiatives in Latin America and other parts of the world to a diverse crowd of close to 300 people. Smart cities depend on the commitment of city government, the business community, academia, and engaged citizens. The event served as the kick-off for the new UAB Sustainable Smart Cities Research Center which brings together researchers from engineering, business, medicine, and other fields to seek innovative solutions to complex sustainability issues in Birmingham and around the world. Birmingham Mayor William Bell presented opening remarks and discussed the City’s successes and future plans for developing a smarter Birmingham.

Keynote speakers and panel discussion included: Cathy Crenshaw, President and CEO of Sloss Real Estate; Oscar E. Diaz, Co-founder and President of Global Solutions Dynamic Plus (GSDPlus); Frank Franklin, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of the UAB School of Public Health; Manuel Olivera, Regional Director of the C40 Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI); Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia; and Dietmar Offenhuber of MIT SENSEable Labs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The daylong symposium was hosted jointly by the UAB School of Engineering, the UAB School of Business, the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, and the UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center. Sponsors included Alabama Power and the City of Birmingham. Funding agencies included the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the National Science Foundation.

For more information, download the 2012 Symposium poster.