About the Seminar

February 28, 2014 8:30am

The perceived future impacts of emerging technologies, including nanotechnology, hinge largely on the conventional risk-benefit paradigm. This paradigm oversimplifies the complexity and inter-linkages between technological innovation and the evolution of urban form. In this “New Tools for Science Policy” seminar, we will offer scenarios as an alternative approach to consider complex socio-technical systems and contemplate the values and forces that underlay different manifestations of urban form. Through our research, we have co-constructed two divergent scenarios portraying nanotechnology innovation and its implications for the future urban form of the city. We will introduce these scenarios through a short, fifteen-minute film to spark a discussion on the urban form and lived experience of the city in 2050. A moderated plenary discussion will follow the film in an effort to highlight how policy-makers, businesses and academic researchers focused on energy efficiency and renewable materials can trigger positive, lasting changes in our cities.  Our goal is to spark new ideas about design thinking, sustainability and the future city.

Series Sponsored by:

ASU Office of the President
Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes
Center for Nanotechnology in Society

Links

• ASU collaborators use scenarios to explore future of Phoenix, ASU News, February 26, 2014
• PHX 2050, on Vimeo