Who’s Participating: The 2012 Meeting of the Minds will convene more than 250 invited global urban sustainability leaders in San Francisco (CA) from more than a dozen countries to explore a rich variety of smart design, planning, policy and technology innovations that enable cities and regions to respond to increasingly complex urban planning and development challenges.
Why They’re Coming: Each year’s Meeting of the Minds is a premier leadership summit focused on the innovations that leaders in the built environment, infrastructure, transport, architecture, planning, finance and other key areas city-regions can use to grow sustainable cities. For two days, participants from across all sectors — public, NGO, and private — engage in lively discussions focused on “connecting the dots” linking buildings, energy and water resources, mobility, and finance.
Underpinning the 2012 program is a growing imperative: to make sense of the complex interplay between natural ecosystems and human infrastructure systems. The Meeting will look at how urban/regional decisions have become inextricably linked, and what elements of cross-sector partnership are critical for successful solutions.
Meeting of the Minds will illuminate specific solutions and smart strategies that are making it possible to accelerate the emergence of sustainable cities around the globe — and create a smarter and more connected future for all. We’ll feature the innovators who are solving critical problems, especially those from organizations and companies that are making smart investment choices. We’ll identify breakthrough policies and practices that are already enabling our institutions and systems to become smarter and more resilient.
Why San Francisco?: San Francisco’s progress on the road to sustainability provides a timely backdrop for one core theme of this year’s Meeting of the Minds: innovative approaches that help to accelerate the transition toward post-carbon metropolitan regions. The Mayor of San Francisco and his government have joined us as a co-sponsor. Just prior to our invitation-only event, the City plans to organize an “Urban Innovations Festival” on Oct 8-10, in part to highlight the ideas which will be debated during the Meeting.
Who’s Organizing the Meeting? The program’s main organizers – working with Global Sponsors (Toyota, Schneider Electric, Philips Lighting, Qualcomm, and Cisco) – are renowned, high-impact non-profit institutions: Regional Plan Association, Presidio Graduate School, Urban Age Institute, with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy as a key partner. SOM, CH2M Hill, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation are also co-sponsoring the program. WSP Group is sponsoring and hosting the October 9 evening opening reception. Other organizations have joined us as Meeting partners as well, including SPUR, the Urban Land Institute, Greenprint Foundation, Bay Area Council, Bay Area Economic Institute, International Water Association, CEOs for Cities, and US Green Building Council/Northern California.
Real-Time Access via TelePresence: Real-time access to the program is being broadened for the 2012 Meeting of the Minds plenary sessions. The 2012 Meeting will feature live on-site TelePresence videoconferencing to connect the San Francisco event with locations around the globe.
For conference questions: Please contact Jessie Feller, Regional Plan Association at 917-546-4319 or via email at jfeller@rpa.org for questions related to the program, press, speakers, moderators, sponsors, etc.
Follow Meeting of the Minds on twitter #MeetoftheMinds
More information will be coming soon regarding location and hotel. Check out the 2011 Meeting of the Minds.
View the 5-min video from Meeting of the Minds 2011 with theme and speaker highlights:
