Smart Law for Smart Cities: Regulation and the Transformation of Urban Technology – New York, NY

The Fordham Urban Law Journal invites papers for Smart Law for Smart Cities: Regulation and the Transformation of Urban Technology, which will be held February 27-28, 2014.

The 2014 Symposium will focus on topics associated with contemporary urbanism and the potentially disruptive advances in urban infrastructure related to innovative technology, sustainability and “big data”….The [symposium] will focus on how contemporary urban life is marked and shaped by technology, as well as the law and regulatory complexities that are arising from this technological transformation. The Symposium will include panels examining changes to both the physical and non-physical landscape in urban life resulting from such changes. The topics include: – Citizen Engagement, the technological interface between citizens and cities; – Local Service Delivery, the transformation of traditional urban local-government services such as policing, education and public safety; – Broadband and the New Digital Divide, the physical changes in urban infrastructure to accommodate the demand for broadband, and challenges in equal access to this new market; – Energy and Infrastructure, with technological advances comes the need for advances in energy usage and an infrastructure that can support it, despite the fact that urban areas are still working within the regulatory and legal framework of past generations; – Cities and Surveillance, the dichotomy between the need for safety in an urban atmosphere and risks such as crowd sourcing and false accusations is examined in a post-9/11 and post-Boston Marathon Bombing world; and – Regulating Big Data in Urban Governance, the dueling relationship between the collection and deployment of large amounts of data needed for urban governance and privacy and other regulation concerns.

Submit a one page proposal to the Journal’s Symposium Editor, Alex Berke, at symposium[@]urbanlawjournal.com. If you are already working on a draft paper, please include that draft with your submission. The deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, October 25, 2013, at 5pm. We will inform you if your paper has been accepted by November 1st. Please contact Alex Berke with any questions. im