Former US Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley will be one of the guest speakers at the first urban development conference to be held in Dublin on October 19th.

A former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, O’Malley will be joined by a strong panel of speakers, including Thomas Sevcik, cofounder and chief executive of Arthesia, which specialises in strategic insights for cities and the role of cities in the future.

The Urban Land Institute conference, to be held at the Dublin Convention Centre, will focus on three themes: city governance, policymaking and strategic framework; residential development, density and innovative housing solutions; and major urban projects, infrastructure delivery and smart city development.

Industry opportunity

John Bruder, chairman of Urban Land Institute Ireland, said the line-up of national and international speakers was an opportunity for industry leaders and others who cared about our cities to come together and discuss the future.

“There has never been a conference like this in Ireland before and we are very excited about it,” he said.

Other speakers will include Owen Keegan, chief executive of Dublin City Council; Craig Hughes, Global Real Estate leader, PwC; Marian Finnegan, chief economist, Cushman & Wakefield; Bob van der Zande, residential development director, city of Amsterdam; Dr Conor Skehan, chairman of the Housing Agency; Léan Doody, lead consultant on smart cities, Arup; and Edward Jones of Dixon Jones Architects, who were winners of the Dublin City Council international competition for the design of the new civic plaza at College Green.

The conference is to be supported by Cushman & Wakefield, Hines, PwC, Linesight, Mason Hayes & Curran, Green Reit, Hibernia Reit, and The Irish Times.

For more information, see http://iti.ms/2vtPJ3i.