A Suburban World? Global Decentralization and the New Metropolis

[i]International conference[/i] Reston, Virginia, USA April 6-April 8, 2008 Call for abstracts (due by 15 may, 2007, [b]submission opens January 1st, 2007[/b]) Hosted by Dr. Robert Lang (Metropolitan Institute), Dr. Paul Knox (Virginia Tech), and Dr. Edward Blakeley (University of Sydney) We have entered a new era where the areas outside worldwide core cities are forming different settlement systems. In Europe, even tight building controls have not curbed the appetite of households to move out of the central cities. China and India, with fast-growing middle classes, are witnessing a startling expansion of their urban areas with rapid auto-dependent growth on the fringe. Mexico and Indonesia are beginning to adapt American-style suburban development patterns. As urban form changes, new research and policy have to be created to address the challenges of sprawl, congestion, and affordable housing. This conference will explore these and other issues in the American as well as international context. Tracks: * Immigration/Changing Demographics of the Suburbs * Special Segregation by Lifestyle/Economics; Gated Communities * Megapolitans/Metropolitan Form * Transportation * Energy Consumption/Sustainable Environment * Disasters/Adaptation * Transnational Communities/Residential Tourism * Governance & Regulation * Business of Suburbia/Economic Development/Economic Space * Suburban Decline * Urban Form at the Neighborhood Level * Newburbia/Newtowns For more information:http://www.mi.vt.edu/