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Call for Expressions of Interest to host ICUC-12

2023-01-20 in Newsletter

The International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) organises the International Conference on Urban Climate (ICUC) at regular intervals. After two years of postponement due to the pandemic, the 11th International Conference on Urban Climate, ICUC‐11,  will finally be held this year jointly with the AMS Symposium on the Urban Environment in Sydney, Australia, from August 28th to September 1st, 2023.

ICUC‐11  is the continuation of a series of conferences starting in Kyoto, Japan in 1989, followed by those in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1993, Essen, Germany in 1996, Sydney, Australia in 1999, Lodz, Poland in 2003, Göteborg, Sweden in 2006, Yokohama, Japan in 2009, Dublin, Ireland in 2012, Toulouse, France in 2015, and New York, US in 2018. The success of ICUC series helped to create a cohesive international community of urban climate researchers. The ICUC provides an international forum to showcase and discuss the latest research developments, to identify novel research questions, and to implement urban climate knowledge to the design and management of cities. The conferences cater to the interests of a diverse community of meteorologists, climatologists, hydrologists, ecologists, engineers, architects, urban planners, and others interested in the highly interdisciplinary environment.

The next ICUC meeting is envisaged to take place in 2025 – Today we call on the community to start the process of identifying the location and host of ICUC-12!

While the pandemic has underlined the need for in person meetings, it also fostered a rapid development of new complementary formats. Moreover, as a climate science community we cannot ignore the carbon footprint of our events. Thus, we are open to new formats for ICUC-12, such as multi-site events, streaming of plenaries for local “watch parties”, and other hybrid formats. Please be creative!

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As a first step we invite ‘expressions of interest’ from those interested in hosting the ICUC-12.

The expression of interest should be brief (~1 page) and should indicate the proposed location (city, country), organizer’s name, institutional affiliation(s) and the likely time frame for the conference. This information should be submitted as an PDF file to the Secretary of the IAUC, Benjamin Bechtel (iauc-secretary@rub.de, subject: ICUC-12 EOI CITYNAME, use only this E-mail address!) by 5 March, 2023.

We will share all the expressions of interest received with all those who make a submission and with the IAUC Board with the objective to streamline the process and to allow for collaborations/discussions around the bids from those interested in hosting ICUC-12. The board will review all EOI and invite a range of candidate hosts for full proposals.

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Full proposal are due 31 May . They should be maximum 8 pages long (single spaced, 11pt font) and include the following sections:

  1. Location for conference. This section should discuss the location and facilities available. Indicate why the proposed location is a good choice for an ICUC conference. Please also indicate hotels, distance between hotels and conference venue, summary details of available meeting rooms, and availability of inexpensive housing options (e.g., for students). In this section please also discuss opportunities for social activities, tours, and local attractions that might be of interest to conference participants and their guests. Information about accessibility and travel (airports, train connections, etc.) is also welcome.
  2. Online formats or parts: This section should discuss which parts of the conference will be available online or in decentralised hubs during the conference, and which parts will be published after the conference (e.g. keynote lecture videos, poster PDFs, abstracts, etc.).
  3. Proposed timing of conference. This should be a short section discussing the likely time frame for the conference, including one or more alternatives. A brief discussion of the benefits of the proposed timing is desired.
  4. Proposed registration or other fees. Provide an initial estimate of the proposed fees for the conference (in USD) based on current prices. Also discuss how surpluses or deficits are to be handled. Budgets should consider different scenarios between 350 and 600 participants  with about 1/3 of the attendees being students); please indicate what the registration fee would cover. The IAUC intends for ICUC to break even; this may require organizers to budget for a small surplus. Conference organizers are responsible for any losses.
  5. Preprints and proceedings. Discuss whether there will be a preprint volume or conference proceedings and the mode of dissemination.
  6. Institutional/private/government support. Indicate whether there is institutional support for holding the conference at this location. This might include suggestions for a joint conference with another society or organization and access to suitable persons/organization to form a local organizing committee.
  7. Familiarity with IAUC and ICUC. Please indicate whether the organizers have attended previous ICUC and/or are familiar with the objectives of IAUC.
  8. Carbon budget: Please indicate the estimated carbon footprint and any plans to compensate (parts of) it.

Organizers of the last 3 ICUC conferences are listed below for reference:

These individuals can provide insight into the necessary financial and institutional support that is needed to run a successful conference. It must be appreciated that IAUC, as a ‘dues-free’ organization, has limited financial means; its main resource is the goodwill and enthusiasm of its members and the knowledge that designated ICUC meetings attract the best of the international urban climate community, and that our past success has created mutually beneficial inter-organisational linkages.

Full proposals should be submitted as single PDF file to Benjamin Bechtel (iauc-secretary@rub.de, subject: “ICUC-12 full proposal CITYNAME”, use only this E-mail address!) by 31 May 2023. We will have initial evaluations with the Board of the IAUC and then ask finalists to prepare a presentation for the Board Meeting at ICUC‐11 (online presentation will be possible).

 

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