Overview

FutureStructure Summit 2013:
Water, Waste & Energy

This is an invitation-only event.

FutureStructure is a new framework for thinking through and solving the challenges faced in building economically and socially robust communities. The aim of FutureStructure is to overcome the constraints inherent in haphazard and silo'd approaches that communities often take when conceiving, investing in and building their futures.

FutureStructure starts from the premise that a community or region is best envisioned as a large system of deeply interdependent smaller systems. These systems include "hard infrastructure" for things like transportation and utilities to "soft infrastructure" that support human capital, like education and economic development.

Harnessing developments in technology, like powerful analytics and the "internet of things" combined with designing communities as systems, FutureStructure is about what gets built, but more importantly how it's built and especially how what gets built connects with everything else.

This, the first of two 2013 FutureStructure Summits, will focus on opportunities and challenges associated with water, waste and energy. A second Summit on the build environment and transportation will take place in San Francisco in November.

Engage with colleagues at this invitation-only gathering of government leaders from across the US for a day of discussions about a new approach to 21st century city and community building. Hear thought provoking expert presentations and share your perspectives about:

• Cities as Systems

Connected and well integrated, smarter with greater responsiveness to community needs, supportive of and less destructive to the environment, energy efficient with systems themselves designed to be maximally efficient, responsive to new technological opportunities in design and construction and less expensive to build and operate

• Smart, Connected and Integrated Infrastructure

Technology promises to transform how we build, view and interact with the physical structures in the world around us. Smart infrastructure makes more efficient use of resources and improves the quality of life for the people who use it.

• FutureStructure and Water, Waste & Energy Systems
  
• FutureStructure and Jobs

New types of job skills will be needed to develop, build, deploy and operate connected systems in our communities. Creating jobs, renovating infrastructure and improving communities will challenge government, academic, and business leaders to develop a workforce to match evolving requirements.

• Connected and Integrated - The Political Challenges

Everything is connected to everything else. There isn't an element within a community that won't be touched by this renewal process. Developing an integrated system requires an understanding of its key leverage points. New government collaborations to manage these systems will need to put in place.

In Partnership with: