"The city of the future" symposium

Conference organized by the Avenir Commun Durable initiative , on November 30 and December 1, 2023 in the Marguerite de Navarre amphitheater at the Collège de France (Marcelin Berthelot site).

The city of the future

The future is in the city. In 2022, 56 % of the world's population, or around 4.4 billion people, lived in urban areas. If this trend continues, by 2050, 7 out of 10 people will be city dwellers.

This human concentration is a source of economic and cultural wealth, but it also entails risks, vulnerabilities and sometimes extreme inequalities. It also generates undesirable environmental effects. The World Bank estimates that cities currently account for almost 2/3 of the world's energy consumption and 70 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. Responsible for this, of course, but also a victim of the accelerating environmental and climatic changes characteristic of the Anthropocene.

On November 30 and December 1, 2023, the City of the Future symposium, organized as part of the Collège de France's Avenir Commun Durable initiative, aims to contribute to the debate on these complex issues. To do so, it draws on a broad panel of speakers covering a wide range of disciplines.

What will the city of the future look like ?

The Avenir Commun Durable initiative is supported by the Fondation du Collège de France, its major sponsors Fondation Covéa and TotalEnergies, and its patrons Faurecia and Saint-Gobain.