The Global City Indicators Facility is proud to present the inaugural Global Cities Summit in Toronto. The Summit will convene global leaders from the world’s cities, businesses, and universities, as well as planning and design professionals, and representatives from the UN and other international agencies on May 15th and 16th in Toronto, Canada.  

The Summit will be an opportunity for cities and their partners to learn, share, and exchange experiences across a wide spectrum of big ideas and innovative solutions for cities under the theme: Getting on Track: Sustainable & Inclusive Prosperity for Cities.

A preeminent group of international speakers will convene in Toronto to discuss big ideas and innovations for cities. Speakers will be coming from cities around the world including New York, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Seattle, Chicago, Ottawa, Geneva, Paris, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Eindhoven, Cape Town, Niagara Falls, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Milan, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, Makkah, Riyadh and Helsinki.

Plenary and panel sessions will focus on a number of topics including: city data, ISO international standards for cities, smart cities, urban resilience, mobility, competitiveness, governance, and more.

For the full list of speakers and panelists, please download the media release (PDF), or visit the Global Cities Summit website.

About the Global City Indicators Facility:

The Global Cities Summit is presented by the Global City Indicators Facility, in partnership with the University of Toronto. Launched in 2008, the Global Cities Indicators Facility (GCIF) responds to the urgent need for a globally standardized set of city indicators. The GCIF hosts a network over 250 member cities across 81 countries and provides a globally standardized system for data collection that allows for comparative knowledge and learning across cities globally.

Student competition:

The Global Cities Summit is calling for bright young leaders to submit their “big ideas” and innovations for cities in a student poster competition.

The top ten short-listed applicants will have the opportunity to showcase their posters and network with city leaders from around the world at the Global Cities Summit in Toronto from May 15-16, 2014.  Posters at the Summit will be judged by an international panel and the top three finalists will be awarded.

Students are encouraged to present their “big ideas” and innovations according to the theme of the Summit, “Getting on Track: Sustainable and Inclusive Prosperity for Cities.”
 
Students can apply for the competition individually or in teams. Applicants will be short-listed based on originality, thoughtfulness and visual appeal by a panel of Senior Fellows of the University of Toronto’s Global Cities Institute in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. The selected students will exhibit their work in the form of a poster and have direct exposure to over 300 international delegates including municipal and business leaders, international agencies, scholars and urban planning professionals. The ultimate winning project will be decided by a vote among the international delegates and announced at the closing of the Summit.
 
The competition is open to students in universities and colleges across Ontario in the following fields:
-          Architecture/Design
-          Engineering/ICT
-          Environmental Studies
-          Geography
-          Planning
-          Political Science
-          Sustainable Development
-          Other related areas

For more information about the Summit and its Student Competition, please visit the Summit website.