Symposium Program

Please find the latest symposium schedule below (subject to change - please check back for updates).

 

Time Location September 1, 2025
8:00-9:00 Akademie Foyer Registration
9:00-9:30 Akademie Welcome address by the Empa directorate (Prof. Matthias Sulzer) & "Urban Futures and 10 years of the UESL" (Dr. Georgios Mavromatidis)
9:30-10:15 Akademie Keynote: Urban Planning in Research - Prof. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey (ETH Zurich)
10:15-10:45 Akademie Foyer Coffee break & poster session
  Parallel sessions Workshop
10:45-12:00 (See session) Justice, equity and urban governance
(LB)
Urban energy systems 
(Akademie)
Nature-based solutions, green-blue infrastructure & ecology 
(VE 102)
Mobility: social aspects and participatory approaches 
(VE 202)
From Insight to Impact: Transforming the Evidence-to-Policy Pipeline (ETH Zurich) 
(NEST-MF)
12:00-13:00 Akademie Foyer Lunch
13:00-13:45 Akademie Keynote: "Neighbourhoods First: Spatial Design as a Lever for Urban Energy Transitions" - Dr. Vincent Kitio & Yassine Moustanjidi (UN-Habitat)
  Parallel sessions Panel
13:45-15:00 (See session) Sufficiency: pathways to living well within planetary boundaries
(LB)
The future of mobility
(VE 102)
Building performance and retrofitting
(VE 202)
Financing, economics and energy communities
(NEST-MF)
Scaling up superblocks: engaging citizens in urban futures (University of Patras, University of Geneva & others)
(Akademie)
15:00-15:30 Akademie Foyer NEST tour, poster session & coffee break
  Panel & Workshops
15:30-17:00 (See session) Panel: Sufficiency: pathways to living well within planetary boundaries (EPFL, Empa, Sciences Po/IPCC, ZHAW)
(Akademie)
PowerHood: Playtesting a serious game for energy transition in neighborhoods (Empa)
(NEST-MF)
Gridly: Interactive engagement tool for Local Energy Community, market and user’s interconnectivity (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)
(NEST-M2C)
Futuring cities: Participatory visioning for resilient futures (United Nations University)
(LB)
 
17:00-17:30 Akademie Closing address
17:30 + Multifunktion Recreational UESL 10th anniversary dinner & networking celebration!

 

Time Location September 2, 2025
8:30-9:00 Akademie Foyer Registration
9:00-9:30 Akademie Welcome address by the Head of the UESL (Dr. Georgios Mavromatidis) &
"Swiss Strategy to Net Zero by 2050 and Implications for the Building Area" by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (Andreas Eckmanns)
9:30-10:15 Akademie Keynote: "Overshoot – the urban future no one is talking about." - Prof. Debra Roberts (IPCC/UNFCC)
10:15-10:45 Akademie Foyer NEST tour, poster session & coffee break
  Parallel sessions Panel
10:45-12:00 (See session) Participative, multidisciplinary and cross-border learnings
(LB)
Hot & cold: from cooling to district heating
(NEST-MF)
Digital approaches for urban planning and design
(VE 102)
Circularity, materials and embodied emissions
(VE 202)
Enhancing Urban Resilience through Nature-based Solutions (NbS): Strategies for Reducing Disaster Risks (UNDP Geneva)
(Akademie)
12:00-13:00 Akademie Foyer Lunch
13:00-13:45 Akademie Keynote: "Cities and Energy - A Systems View" - Prof. Nilay Shah (Imperial College London)
  Parallel sessions Panel
13:45-15:00 (See session) Reimagining cities: the role of communities, education, and co-benefits
(NEST-MF)
Grids, networks, flexibility and resilience
(VE 102)
Citizen engagement and participatory approaches for just urban planning
(LB)
Modeling tools and technology for urban innovation
(VE 202)
How to establish heavy-duty supply chains for low-carbon housing in Africa’s emerging Mega- and Gigacities (Skat Consulting Ltd.)
(Akademie)
15:00-15:30 Akademie Foyer Coffee break & poster session
  Workshops
15:30-17:00 (See session) "My Neighbourhood": Building energy transition, one neighbourhood at a time (UN-Habitat)
(Akademie)
Shaping the future of urban digital twins in Switzerland (EPFL)
(NEST-MF)
Playing with the Business Model Assembler for clean energy urban hubs (University of St. Gallen)
(NEST-M2C)
Bridging the gap: Fostering collaborations between social scientists and engineers for urban systems research (MIT)
(LB)
 
17:00-17:30 Akademie Special guest keynote: Dani Arnold - world record-breaking, Swiss extreme mountaineer