On May 23, BCSSS Research Group leader Karin Huber-Heim was invited to participate in an expert panel on the topic “From urban metabolism to a fair and circular urban-rural relationship”. The conference on urban-rural relationships , organized by the the SERI Institute in Vienna, was held in cooperation with the Club of Rome and as part of the EU Horizon 2020 projects UrbanWINS and PlanetYES, in the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

The conference showed and discussed approaches to the development of cities and their surrounding areas (regional as well as global) until 2050 under different assumptions, from sustainable futures to business as usual, the roles of provision and disposal, the transport of people and resources, as well as the public services that are ultimately at stake.

The conference website provides links to the presentations of Katy Shields on “Scenarios for a sustainable Future”, Leonardo Rosado on “The urban metabolism of cities experiences and results from the Urban_wins project” and Hubert Rhomberg on “Rethinking the design and construction process to enhance performance and reduce impact”.