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Joe Ravetz on the future of cities at SYKE, Helsinki on 21 January 2015

Top view of a big city with skyscrapers

Dr. Joe Ravetz (UK) will lecture about the future of cities and his new book Urban 3.0 at the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE (Mechelininkatu 34 A, Helsinki) on Wednesday 21 January 2015 at 9.15. Joe Ravetz is Co-Director of the Centre for Urban Resilience & Energy at The University of Manchester. His main books include City-Region 2020 and the forthcoming Urban 3.0: creative synergy and shared intelligence (Earthscan). He is also a Principal at SAMI Consulting and part time graphic facilitator, and delivers professional training and seminars, consultancy contracts, keynotes and reviews in many countries.Dr. Ravetz has recently developed a new science of ‘Synergistics’, with a body of theory and practice on www.urban3.net. The over-arching theme of the lecture will be about inter-connection: Ravetz sees cities / regions not as boxes labelled ‘economics’ or ‘environment’, but rather as whole systems which evolve and interact – so it’s clear to him that we need new kinds of whole system thinking. His research programmes in CURE have included spatial development, economic development, resource modelling, environmental policy, energy / climate change, land / landscape studies, policy studies, etc. The higher agenda is on the inter-connections, which can be explored via complexity science, transition and innovation studies, futures and foresight methods. These and similar methods help to enable creative synergy and urban intelligence – a starting point for a new kind of journey for the 21st century.The lecture event is free of charge and open for everyone. The organisers ask the audience to come by foot, bike or public transport.SYKE, Mechelininkatu 34 A, Helsinki Wednesday 21 January 2015 at 9.15.