Today: Andrew McKillop & Suha Ozkan

Andrew McKillop, energy expert and economic analyst, FRANCE
Andrew McKillop is a writer and consultant on oil and energy economics. Since 1975 he has worked in energy, economic and scientific organizations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. These include the Canada Science Council, the ILO, European Commission, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and South Pacific, and the World Bank. He is a founding member of the Asian chapter of the International Association of Energy Economics. He has published widely in journals including the Ecologist, the New Scientist and Le Monde Diplomatique. He writes and consults about the impact of oil prices on the economy and currently advises the ECOHABITAT sustainable housing and property development project near the French, Belgium and Luxemburg borders.

Suha Ozkan, Architect, Urban Planner, Historian, Theorist, Founding Chairman, World Architecture Community, TURKEY
Dr. Özkan has undertaken extensive research on the theory and history of architecture, design, vernacular form, and emergency housing, and has published over 300 articles and numerous monographs. These have been translated into French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Bhasa. At METU, he taught architectural design and design theory for fifteen years, and became Associate Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in 1978. Then he was appointed as Vice-President of the university in 1979-1982. He taught and lectured extensively in North America, Europe, Central-, South-, and Southeast Asia, and throughout the Middle East. Presently he is the Founding Chairman of World Architecture Community {WAC} a Geneva and Istanbul based international consultancy company. WAC has established an internet based interactive World-wide architecture and planning community which has been breaking world records among architectural sites since August 2008. In 2008 he curated an exhibition on contemporary Turkish architecture entitled 7 Architects from 7 Hills which was displayed in Turin at Palazzo Bertalazone di San Fermo.

Today: Janet Larsen & Beng Lee Ong

Janet Larsen, Research Director, Earth Policy Institute, Washington DC, USA
Ms Larsen is Director of Research at Earth Policy Institute, the think tank founded by Lester Brown advocating for a “Plan B,” a systematic approach to planning at all levels of government, especially national, for conservation of resources, biology and climate via major government and education changes around the world. Janet manages the research program with Lester Brown, planning new projects and coordinating the efforts of the research team. She uses her interdisciplinary background in researching the Eco-Economy Updates, and the Eco-Economy Indicators, similar to her work at the Worldwatch Institute on the Issue Alerts, State of the World and vital Signs. Earth Policy Institute: www.earth-policy.org

Beng Lee Ong, Director (Eco-city Project Office), Ministry of National Development, SINGAPORE
Mr Ong Beng Lee was appointed to the Singapore Administrative Service in 1990. In his current appointment as Director of the Eco-city Project Office in the Ministry of National Development, he helps to formulate policies and programs for the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, and oversees its smooth implementation in close partnership with the relevant Chinese authorities and Singapore agencies, and the joint venture company undertaking the development of the Eco-city. Mr Ong read Philosophy, Politics and Economics in Oxford University on an Overseas Merit Scholarship (Open) from 1985 to 1988, and attended the Programme for Management Development at Harvard Business School in 2001. Prior to his current appointment, he had served in various Government agencies, including the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Home Affairs and Defense.

Today: Walter Hood & Mitchell Joachim

Walter Hood, Principal, HOOD Design, Professor, University of California at Berkeley, USA

Through his pioneering work as an ‘urbanist,’ Hood has integrated architectural features such as playgrounds, plazas and squares into city sites whose pasts are vibrant but forgotten. By reflecting the shifting cultural composition and respecting the evolving nature of neighborhoods throughout San Francisco and Oakland, he has created an oasis in these areas, and through his close involvement with the local communities, he developed tailored solutions for Bay Area based parks while retaining a cohesive artistic vision. Hood is also professor and former Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and principal of Hood Design in Oakland, CA. He has exhibited and lectured on his professional projects and theoretical works nationally and abroad. He is currently researching and writing a book entitled Urban Landscapes: American Landscape Typologies.” HOOD Design: www.wjhooddesign.com

Mitchell Joachim, co-founder Terreform ONE, USA

Mitchell Joachim is acknowledged as an innovator in ecological design and urban design. He is also a researcher and architectural educator. Mitchell Joachim’s specific professional interest has been adapting principles of physical and social ecology to architecture, urban design, transport, and environmental planning. He is a Co-Founder at Terrefuge and Terreform ONE. Currently he is faculty at Columbia University and Parsons. Formerly an architect at Gehry Partners, and Pei Cobb Freed. He has been awarded the Moshe Safdie Research Fellowship, and the Martin Family Society Fellow for Sustainability. He won the History Channel and Infiniti Design Excellence Award for the City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year 2007, MIT Car w/ MIT Smart Cities. His project, Fab Tree Hab, has been exhibited at MoMA and widely published. He was selected by Wired magazine for “The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To”. Rolling Stone magazine honored Mitchell as an agent of change in “The 100 People Who Are Changing America”.

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today: David Hall & Matthew Hardy

David Hall, Founder, NewVista, CEO, Novatek, Provo, Utah, USA

Mr Hall is the visionary behind NewVista, a large scale metropolitan concept with the potential to have world-wide economic and social viability and to be massively scalable and ecologically sustainable. NewVista is a Megalopolis composed of 50 interconnected communities. Each NewVista Community is a self sustaining system of villages and public squares supported by areas for agriculture, industry and its own local energy and food production. A NewVista is a walkable community, with no personal cars or trucks. NewVista has a repeatable pattern that enables scalability from region to household. Mr Hall is also CEO of Novatek, founded in 1985 as a consulting company specializing in applications for Super Materials, including synthetic diamond. Novatek began producing industrial diamond products in the 1990s, mostly for the Oil & Gas industry. In 2004 Novatek sold the Oil & Gas diamond manufacturing division to Reed-Hyclog. In 2005 the IntelliServ division was sold to Grant-Prideco, now owned by NOV. Novatek is currently working on projects ranging from drilling tools to diamond products for asphalt, mining and construction. NewVista: http://www.newvistavillage.com

Tuesday, December 15, 09:00-12:30 Session 1 & 2: The Ecocity Challenge – Metrics, Guidelines, Criteria, Principles of Ecocities

Matthew Hardy, Senior Lecturer in Architecture & Urbanism, INBANTU

Matthew Hardy is the Senior Lecturer in Architecture & Urbanism for the The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism. Matthew trained as an architect at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, holds a PhD in architectural history from the University of Wales, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His PhD research, based at the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, London, was a study of Hippocratic attitudes to climate and their influence on house planning in the classical tradition. He was tasked with the early development of INTBAU from its instigation as a research project in late 2002 until its convergence with The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment (PFBE) in early 2009.

Monday, December 14, 11:00-12:30 Session 2: Legacy, Equity and Design

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today: Colin Grant & Muammer Guler

Colin Grant, Founder and CEO, Visible Strategies, Vancouver, CANADA

Mr Grant has worked as a strategic adviser to leaders worldwide helping them to achieve meaningful, sustainable results in the face of the world’s most difficult challenges. He is a Board Member of the International Center for Sustainable Cities, a member of the Vancouver Mayor’s Sustainability Council and the Vancouver Climate Leader’s Group. he received the UK Governments’ Millennium Products Award for developing and commercializing a process that allows naturally occurring organisms to consume toxic waste products. He has coached top-level athletes in his favorite sport of skiing and has inspired Scottish skiers to Olympic medal success. Visible Strategies: http://www.visiblestrategies.com

Monday, December 14, 17:15-18:15 Session 5: Planning Tools for Sustainablity

Muammer Guler, Governor of Istanbul Province TURKEY

Mr. Gular completed his primary education in Ankara and graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ankara in 1972. Güler began his career as candidate District Governor on March 14, 1973 in Balıkesir. After taking post as Deputy District Governor of Çal in Denizli Province and then District Governor of Pehlivanköy in Kırklareli Province and Horasan in Erzurum Province, he was assigned to the Directorate of Personnel Branch at the Ministry of Interior, where he served as Branch Director and later as Director General. On September 27, 1993 he was assigned as Governor of Nigde Province. From January 29, 1992 on he was Governor of Kayseri Province. After serving as Governor of Gaziantep Province between July 6, 1994 and July 28, 2000, Güler moved to Samsun Province as Governor. Since February 17 2003 he has been the Governor of Istanbul Province.

Sunday, December 13, 9:30-11:10 Session 1: Welcoming Ceremonies, Opening Statements: State of Nature and the Long View

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today: Parris Glendening & Arnold J. Goldman

Parris Glendening, former Governor of Maryland, President, Smart Growth Leadership Institute, USA

Governor Glendening is President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, and two term past Governor of Maryland, United States of America, 1995 to 2003. As governor, one of his primary agenda items was the development strategy known as Smart Growth, which focuses development in higher density mixed use centers that work well with transit, save energy and address environmental issues at their foundation. He led the creation of a Smart Growth Initiative for the state of Maryland and another initiative working with Trust for Public Land, that helps States to align land use and water protection. Smart Growth Leadership Institute: http://www.sgli.org

Sunday, December 13, 11:30-12:30 Session 2: The City and the Shape of the Future

Arnold J. Goldman, Chairman & Founder, BrightSource Energy, Inc., ISRAEL – USA

Arnold J. Goldman is the Chairman and Founder of both BrightSource Energy Inc. and BrightSource Industries (Israel), Ltd. (BSII). He holds a B.S. in Engineering from UCLA and a MSEE from the University of Southern California. Mr. Goldman was the founder of Luz International, Ltd. and served as its CEO. Luz International, Ltd. designed, constructed, financed, and operated the world’s nine largest Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) which, at the time, generated 90 percent of the world’s solar electricity. Mr. Goldman also co-founded Electric Fuel Ltd., an electric battery/fuel cell company listed today as Aerotech on the NASDAQ. He was the VP of Engineering and co-founder of Lexitron, the first word processing company in the US. Lexitron was bought by Raytheon in 1977. Mr. Goldman is the recipient of two international awards for his contribution to solar energy development. He holds numerous patents for his inventions and innovations. BrightSource Energy, Inc.: http://www.brightsourceenergy.com

Monday, December 14, 09:00-10:45 Session 1: Energy, Economy and Innovation

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today: Paul Downton & Veysel Eroglu

Paul Downton, Ecopolis Architects, Adelaide, Australia – Convener, the Second International Ecocity Conference in Adelaide, AUSTRALIA

Mr Paul Downton is Director and Principal Architect of Ecopolis Architects Pty Ltd. Working with his partner Cherie and colleague Emilis Prelgauskas in 1991 he formed Urban Ecology Australia, the national non-profit urban environmental community group which has been actively promoting ecological developments ever since. Paul is a talented artist as well as seminal thinker developing ecocity theory and giving countless public talks, radio, TV and newspaper interviews internationally on ecological architecture, urban ecology and ecopolis and unique experience actually building projects he designs. Paul and his partner Cherie were co-conveners of the Second International Ecocity Conference in Adelaide. Ecopolis Architects: http://www.ecopolis.com.au

Monday, December 14, 15:30-17:00 Session 4: Ecocity Architecture and Urban Design II

Veysel Eroglu, Minister of Environment and Forests, TURKEY

Mr. Eroglu is Member of Parliament for Afyonkarahisar of the ruling AKP. He graduated in civil engineering from Istanbul Technical University, going on to an academic career at the same university until becoming general director of the Istanbul water board in 1994. Here he is remembered for successfully modernizing and cleaning up the city’s water supply, which had previously been a victim of corruption and neglect.He became head of the State Hydraulic Works (DSI) in 2003, where again he supervised a program of investment for renewal. In the past, Eroglu campaigned for the position of the mayor of Istanbul from AKP. He was elected to the parliament in 2007, becoming minister of environment and forestry, where, as part of his duties, he will be responsible for Turkey’s strategy and approach to global warming.

Tuesday, December 15, 15:30-17:00 Session 4: Ecocity Future of Istanbul – Building the Future at the Crossroads of Civilizations

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today: Wulf Daseking & Marcel Diallo

Wulf Daseking, Director of Planning City of Freiburg, GERMANY

Mr Wulf Daseking has been the director of city planning in Freiburg, Germany, since 1984. For six years before that, he held a similar role at Mullheim/Ruhr. At Freiburg, Wulf is responsible for urban development, land development, landscape planning, master plan development and individual projects. He is an associate member of the German Federation of Architects, a member of the German Academy of Urban and Rural Development/Berlin an a member of the exert committee city planning of the German Congress of Cities. Wulf is also a lecturer in city planning at Freiburg University and at Darmstadt/University of Architecture City of Freiburg: http://www.freiburg-home.com

Monday, December 14, 13:45-15:15 Session 3: Sustainable City Design, Layout and Planning

Marcel Diallo, poet, musician, artist, philosopher, social entrepreneur, activist, California, USA

Marcel Diallo is an American musician, poet, artist and community builder, known for his founding of the Black Dot Artists Collective, The Black New World and his revitalization efforts in West Oakland, California’s historic, predominantly African-American neighborhood. As a performance artist and an activist, Marcel Diallo has performed and shared the stage with such legendary poets and artists as Amiri Baraka, The Last Poets, David Murray, Kahil El Zabar, Sonia Sanchez, Kamau Da’oud, Marvin X, Piri Thomas, Micheal McClure, Lawrence Ferlingetti, as well as actor Don Cheadle. Diallo is currently active in land-based community building in his West Oakland neighborhood, with the intent of making sure that African-American residents do not get displaced by the rapid wave of gentrification that is taking hold of the historically black neighborhood. Black New World: http://www.blacknewworld.com

Monday, December 14, 11:00-12:30 Session 2: Legacy, Equity and Design

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today we’re excited to announce the addition of Engin Ayaz and Jake Levitas from Arup to our line-up of speakers. Engin and Jake enjoy exploring synergies across various technical focus areas and developing integrated design scenarios with strong visual outputs.

Engin Ayaz, Energy and Resources Consultant

Engin Ayaz is an energy and resources consultant in the Arup’s Buildings team in San Francisco. Engin has an interdisciplinary background in engineering and architecture and focuses on carbon, climate change and informatics in the context of architecture, engineering and planning. Engin enjoys exploring synergies across various technical focus areas and developing integrated design scenarios with strong visual outputs. Previously, he worked on a sustainability research assignment across five Arup offices. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Engin has a Civil and Environmental Engineering degree from Stanford University and is a LEED accredited professional.

Monday, December 14, 17:15-18:15 Session 5: Planning Tools for Sustainability

Jake Levitas, Sustainability Consultant

Jake Levitas is a Sustainability Consultant with Arup’s Planning team in San Francisco. His experience in sustainability consulting ranges from applying sustainability to design, construction and operation of urban planning projects and infrastructure to analysis of corporate objectives and implementing sustainability plans for organizations. He has contributed to environmental impact assessment work, as well as both public and private sustainable development projects. He has notable experience with GIS analysis, mapping, and database management in the context of integrated sustainable design.

Monday, December 14, 17:15-18:15 Session 5: Planning Tools for Sustainability

The next two weeks we will be highlighting the inspired thought leaders who will be speaking at Ecocity World Summit 2009.

Today: Agni Vlavianos-Arvanitis & Sahar Attia

Agni Vlavianos-Arvanitis, Founder and President, Biopolitics International Organization (B.I.O.), Athens, GREECE

The Biopolitics International Organization (B.I.O.) is an non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Athens, Greece. Over the course of its history, B.I.O. has been promoting a shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric system of values in society, in order to curb environmental destruction and place appreciation of the environment at the core of every human endeavour. B.I.O. has held numerous international conferences and symposia, paving the way for the development of new strategies to secure environmental protection as a primary societal aim.

Appearing Sunday, December 13, 17:15-18:15 Session 5: Biology and Wildlife in our Lives

Sahar Attia, Cairo University, Cairo, EGYPT

Dr. Sahar Attia is Professor of Planning & Urban Design at Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. With a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Urban Institute of Paris, France. She is Technical Coordinator and Urban Planning Consultant for improving the informal settlements in Eygpt. Her work is centered around cultural and natural heritage conservation in Mediterranean cities. Dr. Attia currently serves as Secretary of the committee of “Urban Planning and New Communities” – The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, The Ministry of Scientific Research, Egypt. She is also a member of the Research Institute for Development.

Appearing Monday, December 14, 13:45-15:15 Session 3: Sustainable City Design, Layout and Planning