Major conference heads to Malaga to help design the cities of the future
Representatives of more than a hundred places from all around the world will gather at the GreenCities event to discuss new technologies to tackle climate change
The GreenCities forum due to take place at the Palacio de Ferias in Malaga between 1 and 2 October aims to discuss what the cities of the future will look like. The event will bring together representatives from more than a hundred cities from 26 countries around the world. Together, they will analyse the use of new technologies in the face of climate change, the design of more sustainable neighbourhoods that can increase the inhabitants' quality of life and the implementation of new models of transportation and electric vehicles.
"At GreenCities, we design the cities of tomorrow: we want to combine the efforts of engineers, urban planners and sociologists to create friendly neighbourhoods," said mayor Francisco de la Torre at the presentation of the event on 22 September.
The main stage of the forum will be the so-called 'Urban Arena', where 150 experts will discuss climate change, digitalisation, blue economy, tourism innovation, energy, water and smart territories to tackle the increasing population of big cities.
International meeting point
President of the event's organising committee and director of energy company Endesa in Andalucía, Extremadura, Ceuta and Melilla Rafael Sánchez Durán expressed his gratitude to the large organisations and companies that have supported GreenCities, among them Ametic, Telefónica, Orange, Kress, Agrojardín, the Andalusian regional government, Cotec, the provincial authority, the University of Malaga and Smartcity Cluster. This year, Madrid joins as a guest city.
The meeting will bring together 50 mayors and representatives of more than 100 cities from 26 countries, who will have the opportunity to exchange experiences with 200 companies and organisations. There will also be space for new technology companies and young entrepreneurs.
According to Malaga province delegate of the Andalusian government Patricia Navarro, GreenCities has already been playing a big role in the creation and development of sustainable cities over the past 16 years. "This year, we will see what needs to be done in the next ten to 15 years," she said.
Navarro also highlighted that the regional government's stand will offer a space to discuss urban emergencies, floods, pandemics, blackouts and fires. Other topics will be business opportunities offered by urban planning, climate change, waste management, clean energy and water management.
