Reconfiguring Future Urban Infrastructures Webinar Series

The COVID-19 crisis has put urban infrastructure under the spotlight.

Construction taking place on a road

New questions on the ways we build (and build back) infrastructure in cities are now front and centre globally. Faced with a combination of economic, environmental, health and social challenges, cities are learning from each other, experimenting and innovating with strategies in an increasingly uncertain world. 

For many, this often involves both working with existing, while also building new, blue, green and grey infrastructure.  This often means new roles for city governments, alongside private and third sectors agencies, and the introduction of new platforms and technologies as infrastructure is used by those who govern cities both to project them into the world economy while also being used as part of strategies to address issues of inequalities and social exclusion. 

This webinar series brings together speakers from the three universities to discuss the future role of infrastructure in cities.

View the webinar series poster [PDF].

Webinar series Twitter hashtag - #reconfig21

Webinar 1: Sustainable infrastructure

Date/time

25 February

Toronto, 4-5.30pm 

Manchester, 9-10.30pm 

26 February

Melbourne, 8-9.30am

Introduction

Kevin Ward (University of Manchester) and Matti Siemiatycki (University of Toronto)

Chair

Michele Acuto (University of Melbourne)

Speakers

Alana Boland (University of Toronto)

Nate Millington (University of Manchester)

Cathy Oke (University of Melbourne)

Webinar 2: Infrastructural governance

Date/time

25 March

Toronto, 4-5.30pm* (5-6.30 pm due to clocks going forward one hour on 3/14)  

Manchester, 9-10.30pm 

26 March

Melbourne, 8-9.30am

Chair

Sawyer Phinney (University of Manchester)

Speakers

Michele Acuto (University of Melbourne)

Theresa Enright (University of Toronto)

Cecilia Wong (University of Manchester)

Webinar 3: Infrastructure and Economic Development

Date/time

29 April

Toronto, 4-5.30pm 

Manchester, 9-10.30pm 

30 April

Melbourne, 8-9.30 am* (7-8.30 am due to clocks going back one hour on 4/4)

Chair

Danial Naqvi (Universities of Manchester/Melbourne)

Speakers

Raj Reddy (University of Toronto)

Julie Miao (University of Melbourne)

Seth Schindler (University of Manchester)

Webinar 4: Green Infrastructure

Date/time

27 May

Toronto, 4-5.30pm 

Manchester, 9-10.30pm 

28 May

Melbourne, 8-9.30am* (7-8.30 am due to clocks going back one hour on 4/4)

Chair

Sherena Hussain (University of Toronto)

Speakers

Tenley Conway (University of Toronto)

Amy Hahs (University of Melbourne)

Ian Mell (University of Manchester)

Webinar 5: Digital Infrastructure

Date/time

24 June

Toronto, 4-5.30pm 

Manchester, 9–10.30pm 

25 June

Melbourne, 8 – 9.30am* (7-8.30 am due to clocks going back one hour on 4/4)

Chair

Mike Hodson (University of Manchester)

Speakers

David Bissell (University of Melbourne)

Shauna Brail (University of Toronto)

Richard Kingston (University of Manchester)

Webinar 6: Transport/transit infrastructure

Date/time

30 September

Toronto, 4-5.30pm 

Manchester, 9-10.30pm 

1 October

Melbourne, 8 – 9.30 am* (7-8.30 am due to clocks going back one hour on 4/4)

Chair

Caitlin Morrisey (Universities of Manchester/Melbourne)

Speakers

Steven Farber (University of Toronto)

Crystal Legacy (University of Melbourne)

Mike Hodson (University of Manchester)

Graduate symposium

Over the last seven months, a webinar series held jointly between the Universities of Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto called Reconfiguring Future Urban Infrastructures (#reconfig21) has brought together academics interested in the role of infrastructure in a post-covid urban environment. The final webinar in this series is a Graduate Symposium, intending to bring together PhD students from across all three universities in efforts to foster collaboration and support from colleagues.

Participants at the Graduate Symposium will be asked to prepare a three-minute presentation on their PhD work, which gives an insight into the aims and future direction of the project. It is hoped this will enable a broader discussion about the theoretical and practical implications and challenges of doing graduate research.

The Graduate Symposium is scheduled for Thursday 28 October 9pm (UK), 4pm (Toronto) and Friday 29 October 7am (Melbourne). The session is expected to last 1.5 hours. This is open to all PhD students across the Universities of Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto who have research interests in urban infrastructures.

To express your interest, please fill in the following Google form and we will get back to you with further details on the programme after the deadline:

The deadline for expressing interest is Friday 1 October 2021.

For any questions about the Graduate Symposium, please contact Sawyer Phinney (sawyer.phinney@manchester.ac.uk).