The third editions of the International Conferences on “Resilient and Responsible Architecture and Urbanism” and “Future Smart Cities” were held together in collaboration with the Xiamen University Malaysia in Malaysia, and took place virtually from the 14th to the 15th of November 2020, due to the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.

The Conference focuses on how architecture and urban practices can make a transformative contribution at the neighborhood scale or rather the lived scale of buildings and everyday life. This conference will stimulate discussion on the theories of continuous change in cities and ideals and new pedagogies of resilient architecture. It brings together cross-disciplinary perspectives from urban design, architecture, geography, art, technology, and building science to open up multiple standpoints and opportunities for research, strategies, and projects on how local resilience can prepare us for major societal challenges.

Among the main topics discussed at the conference:

1- Computational Advancements in Future Smart Cities

2- The Path to Resiliency: Theory and Application

3- Challenges and Key Components for Developing Smart Cities

4- Resiliency for the Future

Day 1:

Welcoming Session:

The Opening Ceremony started with the online registration and welcoming speeches from the Conference Chair.

Short welcoming speeches were given by the conference chair Professor Huang Nay Ming, Professor of New Energy Science & Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, and Professor Zhang Ying, Assistant President, Xiamen University Malaysia.

Following the welcoming speeches, a Presentation about IEREK introducing IEREK as a company and its activities to the audience by Toka Amer, IEREK representative and Operations Manager at IEREK, Egypt.

Plenary session:

A plenary session followed introducing the first keynote speaker Prof. Hisham Elkadi, Dean of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of Salford, United Kingdom, whose speech was entitled: “Subjectification of Smart Urban”.

After the first keynote speech was the Second keynote speaker Prof. Jack Cheng, Director of Radio Frequency Identification Center and Associate Director of GREAT Smart Cities Institute in (HKUST) Hong Kong, University of Science and Technology, whose speech was entitled: “Digital Twin based on BIM-IoT Integration for Smart Campus at HKUST”

Following the second keynote speech was the third keynote speaker Prof. Cheng Wang, Professor of computer science, School of Informatics, Xiamen University Malaysia, whose speech was entitled: “Indoor 3D Mapping for Future Smart Cities”

After the keynote speech starts the First Session of the conference titled “Computational Advancements in Future Smart Cities”. The session was moderated by Dr. Norlida binti Mohd, Deputy director & UNESCO head of coordination HTC KUALA LUMPUR, and Prof. Huang Nay Ming, Professor of New Energy Science & Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia. The session had five presentations before a short break.

Following the short break was the fourth Keynote Speaker Prof. Rob Roggema, Professor of Sustainable Spatial Transformations at Hanze University Groningen, The Netherlands, whose speech was entitled: “Landscape at heart: resilience and adaptation by design”.

The Second Session entitled “The Path to Resiliency: Theory and Application” then started and was moderated by Dr. Vincent Woon, Assistant Professor of New Energy Science & Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, and Dr. Al-ani Ahmed Khallel Ibrahim, Xiamen University Malaysia. four presentations were discussed during the second session and concluded on the first day of the Conference.

Day 2:

The second day of the conference started with the speeches of the keynote speaker, Prof. Han Wang, Associate Professor, School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, with a speech entitled: “Computer vision in unmanned bus driving”.

After the keynote speech, the Third Session titled “Challenges and Key Components for Developing Smart Cities”, which is moderated by Dr. Norlida binti Mohd, Deputy director & UNESCO head of coordination HTC KUALA LUMPUR, and Dr. Mohammed Alswaitti, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Xiamen University Malaysia. The third session discussed seven presentations before a short break.

Following the short break was the Fourth Session of the conference titled” Resiliency for the Future” and it was moderated by Professor. Hugo Rodriguez, Associated Professor, University of Aveiro, Portugal, and Dr. Miraz Mahdi Hassan, Xiamen University Malaysia. Five presentations were discussed during the Fourth session. A discussion and a Questions and Answers session followed, and the Conference was concluded by a Panel session where final remarks and feedback were discussed.