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The Cityquest - KAEC Forum
United Kingdom Architecture News - Oct 04, 2013 - 12:07 2433 views
New Models for the Urban Century, November 25 – 26, 2013, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia (KAEC)
The Cityquest - KAEC Forum is the first ever global leadership exchange among key visionaries, partners and builders of the world’s largest and most innovative new city projects. The Forum’s chief objective is to generate cohesive strategies for making these cities of the future a sustainable success.
About the New Cities Foundation
Cityquest – KAEC Forum is organized by the New Cities Foundation, a leading global non-profit organization, with a vision to build more inclusive, dynamic andcreative cities benefiting people and society. Its mission is to incubate, promoteand scale urban innovations through collaborative partnerships between government, business, academia and civil society.
An independent, non-profit organization, the New Cities Foundation was created in 2010. It is supported by some of the world’s most forward-looking private, public, research and non-profit institutions, that share its interest in the future of urbanization. The King Abdullah Economic City is one of the New Cities Foundation’s members.
About KAEC
King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is the founder of Cityquest – KAEC Forum and the program host. Located along the Red Sea, 100 kilometers north of Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City is one of the largest and most significant economic projects run by the private sector in the Middle East. The city covers 168 million square meters of land and is being developed into a fully integrated city. The city consists of: the Seaport, the Industrial Valley, the Leisure and Commercial districts, the Haramain district, the Residential Coastal districts and the Resorts. KAEC and its several components will create up to one million new job opportunities in the various industries and service-oriented companies that will open in the city. KAEC has succeeded in attracting more than 50 national and international industrial companies, some of which are already operational while others are in the stage of constructing their commercial and manufacturing facilities.
The megaproject was announced in 2005 and will be fully completed in 2020. This location is ideal to ground Cityquest in the realities of city-building. Cityquest – KAEC Forum will be the first high-level event hosted in KAEC.
About Emaar, The Economic City
The master planner of KAEC is Emaar, The Economic City – a Tadawul listed, real estate development and management company. With its vision to diversify Saudi economy and create employment, the primary focus of this company has been the planning and development of King Abdullah Economic City. It offered its first successful public offering in July 2006, making history with more than half the Saudi population subscribing to it. Emaar, The Economic City is a consortium headed by Emaar Properties PJSC and a number of high-profile investors from Saudi Arabia.
TOPICS
Why Build New Cities?
The opening panel explores the fundamental aspirations of new cities. Which new cities are we talking about? Who are the builders of these new cities and who are their main partners? Which demands do new cities strive to meet? Why build new cities at all? What can they offer that old cities don’t?
Strategic for Success: Attracting people, Attracting Business
New cities are adopting differentiating strategies to tell their story and attract business and people. Which strategies have worked and which have failed? How can you tell and ‘sell’ the story of an entirely new city? What attributes of a new city are most attractive to newcomers? What prompts a business to invest and move its staff to a new city?
What is the role for Government?
This panel explores the public-private relationship in getting these urban mega projects to go from drawing board to reality. What specific roles can and should best be played by private actors and the government? Is there a best practice in this relationship? Can there be a successful private city? How can government help ensure the continued growth and development of urban mega projects?
How does the form of new cities impact their success? What principles are being applied in the design, planning and construction of new cities? What shape are new cities taking and why? Are these experiments impacting the way we retrofit old cities?
For detailed program,please visit website