DLDcities: Visions of Life in the Megacity

Hubert Burda Media brings together visionaries to discuss urban architecture, design and technology in London

The city as gauge of change, driving force of innovation, home of avant-garde thinking: On September 21, DLD stages its first DLDcities conference in London, bringing together visionary architects, creative urban planners, industry leaders, designers, digerati, entrepreneurs, artists, and citizens. The venue is The Crystal, Siemens' new center for sustainable urban development that opens two days before the conference.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120917/562610-a )

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120917/562610-b )

More than half of the world's population lives in towns and cities - and their numbers are rising. Megacities with up to 25 million inhabitants pose complex social and ecological challenges. The world needs major innovations in the urban eco-system, an endeavor that calls for citizens to take up opportunities to make an active contribution. DLDcities as the new platform of Burda's successful international DLD conference brand aims to discuss these central issues in today's society and to provide fresh impetus.

At DLDcities, trendsetters and visionaries will contemplate the access to cities, their structures and the potential of urban networks as well as 'smart city' concepts and sophisticated innovations in the fields of mobility and technology. They will discuss an architecture of the future, in which efficient planning and design will play a key role. Building on the DLD conferences' dedication to dealing with these cutting-edge questions, the urban theater will now be given its own conference.

Steffi Czerny, Managing Director DLD: "Building on DLDs legacy in architecture and urbanism, ranging from Norman Foster to Zaha Hadid, we are now dedicating a fully-fledged conference to the urban arena."

Mega-event Olympic Games as a driving force for London's change

The conference's keynote speaker will be Richard Burdett, director of the Cities program at the London School of Economics, who has examined the major change impulses of the Olympic Games 2012 in London and will present his results for the first time at DLDcities.

Digital revolution transforms access to cities

The effects of the digital revolution shape the urban space and the access of city dwellers to their environs. The focus here is on technologies that allow us, within and with the city, to communicate with buildings and objects. "The city talks back," says the renowned sociologist Saskia Sassen, one of the most distinguished authors who has published on the sociology of urban development and shaped the term 'global city'. Felix Petersen, who has recently triggered a trend with his opinion platform Amen, will get together with other innovators to discuss his visions of location-based services. A brief run-down of new technologies will be presented in the "Elevator Pitches" session. Raul Krauthausen provides a new kind of access to cities by way of his Wheelmap application.

Urban mobility: Sharing instead of owning

The new flexibility of workplaces does away with established structures, with car-sharing projects changing the mobility of urban dwellers. Robin Chase, for instance, influences the mobility habits of Parisians with his Buzzcar project. And Di-Ann Eisnor has created Waze, a real-time navigation system that incorporates the social environment.

Architecture of the future

Star architect Ole Scheeren impresses the world with his designs of megacities that have already become a reality in China. Architecture's enfant terrible Mitchell Joachim experiments successfully with construction materials from bacteria cultivation and designs fascinating visions of the city and nature.  

Sustainable use of energy

The DLDcities venue in London is The Crystal, one of the greenest buildings worldwide. The structure, whose design is based on the form of a crystal, is at the same time conference center, dialogue platform as well as technology and knowledge hub. It is home to the world's largest exhibition focused on urban sustainability. The Crystal brings together future political decision-makers, infrastructure experts and the public to develop new concepts for the future of cities and their infrastructures.

Stephanie Czerny, founder and Managing Director of DLD, will welcome approx. 40 high-profile speakers and 400 international guests at the first DLDcities conference on September 21.

For further information on speakers, the application process and ticket allocation, please see http://www.dld-cities.com.

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DLD Media

DLD is Hubert Burda Media's international conference and innovation platform. DLD Media organizes Europe's leading digital conference DLD, the women's conference DLDwomen, and international networking events in locations such as Palo Alto, New York, London, Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. DLD Media releases publications, online and video formats and studies on conference content and advises DLD partners, start-ups, investors, and institutions. Stephanie Czerny is the DLD's Managing Director and co-founded the DLD Conference in 2005.

The Crystal

DLDcities in London will take place at The Crystal, Siemens AGs center for sustainable urban development. The Crystal is the flagship for Siemens' new business sector Infrastructure&Cities. The Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector (Munich, Germany), with approximately 87,000 employees, offers sustainable technologies for metropolitan areas and their infrastructures.

Press inquiries:

Please send accreditation inquiries to [email protected] or call us at +49-89-9250-2065.

For further information please contact:

Katharina Kirsch
Hubert Burda Media
Corporate Communications
Arabellastraße 23
81925 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49-89-9250-2065
Email: [email protected]