Five years ago, the world's urban population surpassed the rural population for the first time in history, and the number of city dwellers is expected to double in the next century. This dramatic change has created new challenges in urban living that require innovative new solutions. Cities have long made use of information technology to streamline city planning and daily life, from power grids to phone lines to wireless networks. As cities continue to grow, new technologies will arise to manage energy use, crime, traffic patterns and other urban issues and turn cities into finely tuned machines.

Anthony Townsend, an urbanist and technology expert, will explore the conflict between top-down and bottom-up approaches to implementing new technologies, as well as the promises and risks of building tomorrow's smart cities.

Speaker Anthony Townsend is the Research Director at the Institute for the Future.

For more information about this event, visit: http://www.worldaffairs.org/events/2013/building-smart-cities.html