Two renowned scholars on urban systems share their perspectives on how we may foster more resilient and sustainable urban infrastructures for the 21st Century. Professor Christopher Kennedy (Civil Engineering, University of Toronto) presents cities as an urban metabolism, composed of material and energy stocks and flows, and discusses how infrastructure is a fundamental determinant of the metabolism. Professor John Crittenden (Director, Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, Georgia Tech University) introduces the audience to infrastructure ecology, which conceptualizes and models traditional infrastructures (e.g., water, energy, transportation) and socio-economic-ecological infrastructures (e.g., community design, land use planning) as an intertwined, complex, emergent urban nexus.

Each presenter will speak for approximately twenty minutes, followed by questions from University of Michigan assistant professors, Joshua Newell (SNRE) and Ming Xu (SNRE), and from the audience. The event will produce a lively, interactive discussion and reflection on what we must do to forge sustainable, resilient cities in an era of climate change, unprecedented urbanization, and ecological crises. A reception follows this special event.