“Wireless Communications and the Future of Cities” Subject of NYU Conference, Wednesday April 2, 2003
NEW YORK - An interdisciplinary group of urban planning and communications scholars and researchers will gather for a conference to discuss “Wireless Communications and the Future of Cities.” This one-day workshop is sponsored by the Taub Urban Research Center at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
- WHEN: Wednesday April 2, 2003;
8:30 am Registration, 9:00 am Workshop
[a complete agenda follows below] - WHERE: Hemmerdinger Hall, NYU Silver Center for Art & Sciences
100 Washington Square East
[between Washington and Waverly ]
Wireless communications are now interwoven through out all aspects of modern urban life, both in crisis and in everyday activities. This workshop will attempt to reconcile the many ways in which people, cities and wireless technologies are reshaping each other in the contemporary city. Among the many questions to be addressed by the participants are: Do mobile phones make cities more livable or less? How do wireless interactions enhance or detract from our contact with the people and places around us? What warning signs are there of negative outcomes from the spread of mass mobile communications? What demands are wireless users making on urban infrastructure and public spaces?
“If there was any doubt about the pervasiveness of wireless communications technologies in modern cities, it was swept away by the terrorist attacks of September 11th,” said Anthony Townsend, a research scientist at the Taub Center and organizer of this event. “From the gridlock of East Coast cellular networks to the tracking of Al Qaeda leaders’ satellite phones that crisis brought attention to the basic human needs for constant communications.”
Following is an agenda for the workshop and list of scheduled speakers:Workshop Agenda for “Wireless Communications and the Future of Cities”
8:30
Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00
Greetings Mitchell L. Moss, Director, Taub Urban Research Center Anthony Townsend, Research Scientist, Taub Urban Research Center
9:30-10:45
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution Howard Rheingold, Author
11:00-12:30
Building the Wireless City Terry Schmidt, NYCwireless Richard O’Bryant, MIT Jonah Peretti, Eyebeam Atelier
2:00-3:00
What Could People Do With Wireless Networks? Clay Shirky, NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program Steven Johnson, Author of Emergence Richard Beckwith, Intel
3:45-5:15
The Wireless City: The Challenge for Government and Industry Nick Noe, Policy Analyst, New York City Council John Gilbert, Rudin Management Mike Joroff, Senior Lecturer, MIT School of Architecture
5:15-5:30
Closing Remarks: A Research Agenda for the Wireless City Anthony M. Townsend, Taub Urban Research Center
5:30-7:00
Cocktails and Hors D’oeuvres Reception Torch Club, 18 Waverly Place
This conference is free and open to the public, who may register to participate by contacting Todd Rufo at ttr203@nyu.edu or 212 998-7524. Media wishing to cover all or part of this event should call Ken Brown at 212 998-6808.