Unlocking Urban Futures: Decoding Sustainability at the 2024 Egypt Conference

The  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta is delighted to sponsor the upcoming “Future Vision & Challenges for Urban Development, Green Smart Sustainable Building between Present & Future” conference, organized in Egypt by the Housing & Building National Research Centre (HBRC) from December 15 to 17, 2024. The event promises to be a groundbreaking forum for discussing the future of urban development and sustainability. For more details, visit the conference website.

We are proud to announce that four keynote speakers from our department will be featured at the conference:

1. Mustafa Gul will discuss sustainable, resilient, and energy-efficient smart cities.
2. Carlos Cruz will present on building a resilient future through reinforced masonry.
3. Karim El-Basyouny will share his pioneering research on road safety.
4. Mohamed Gamal El-Din will cover advanced and sustainable environmental treatment processes.

In addition to these keynotes, we will also be hosting two discussion panels:

1. Energy and Sustainability Panel:
   This panel, moderated by Yuxiang Chen, will delve into innovative strategies for enhancing sustainability and energy efficiency across various sectors of civil and environmental engineering. Our panelists include Mustafa Gul, Carlos Cruz, Ahmed Hammad, Maysoun Ismaeil, and Mohamed Gamal El-Din.
   
   
2. Role of Technology in Civil Engineering Panel:
   Moderated by Carlos Cruz, this panel will explore cutting-edge approaches to improving the sustainability, resilience, and safety of urban infrastructure systems in response to the challenges posed by climate change and urbanization. Panelists includeMustafa Gul, Karim El-Basyouny, Shay Abtahi, and Nima Shirzad-Ghaleroudkhani.

Our department is committed to leading innovation for societal advancement, and we are honoured to participate in this conference, which provides our researchers with a prestigious platform to showcase how their work has positioned our institution as a global leader in Sustainable Infrastructure and Smart Cities. 

The HBRC has been a cornerstone of construction, building, and housing research in North Africa since 1954. We look forward to using this conference as a springboard for fostering collaborative research and strengthening ties between our two institutions, paving the way for future advancements in the field.