TRAVELING CONFERENCE ON SMART SYSTEMIC AND RESOURCE EFFICIENT CITIESIn an urbanizing world
cities claim a high and rising share of natural resources. They currently demand about three
quarters of the global energy and are responsible for a similar amount of greenhouse gas
emissions. While growing fast cities in developing end emerging economies regularly show signs
of ecological and social overload such as unresolved waste and traffic issues or indecent
living conditions.The Traveling Conference South Caucasus Urban Futures aims to address these
issues by applying an interdisciplinary systemic and multi-scaled approach. With a local case
study in each Tbilisi Georgia 09.-12.05.2019 and Yerewan Armenia on 14.-17.05.2019 this
methodology was designed to connect architects engineers planners social and cultural
sciences towards a more integrated understanding of locality and also to collaborate with
local population as well as to promote participatory approaches to local decision makers.
Funded by the German Ministry of Higher Education and Research the conference traveled with
experts from three countries namely Georgia Armenia and Germany to both locations and
invited additional experts and interested public to collaborate in the interactive and
interdisciplinary workshop format or to discuss the results. Working in Eliava market in
Tbilisi and in the old part of the Kond district in Yerewan the approach first created a
visual image of the place introducing the PhotoVoice method (by Wang and Burris) and adopting
it to create a rapid interdisciplinary assessment. Originally designed to empower local people
the method was used here by the experts and complemented by interviews and open discussions in
local homes - a full participatory citizens' approach was thus not intended but is deemed
necessary in a full-fledged participatory planning. By selecting and text-dubbing the most
'speaking' images taken in the field the experts werenudged to create a common understanding
and language of the local conditions in social economic and social terms.
