AI and Cities: An International Forum for Innovation and Collaboration

Program

Day 1: May 9, 2025


Note: All times are in EDT (UTC-4). Use a time zone converter for your local time.

8:30-9:30 a.m. EDT (12:30–1:30 p.m. UTC)

Opening Ceremony

Open Remarks:

Lingqian Hu, Chair, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Jules Bruck, Director, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning

Karla Saldana Ochoa, Advisory Board member of the UF Artificial Intelligence and Informatics Research Institute

Ravi Shankar Srinivasan, Associate Dean for Research & Strategic Initiatives

Featured Presentation:

Joseph Glover, Interim Provost, University of Florida

9:40-12:00 p.m. EDT (1:40-4:00 p.m. UTC)

Keynote Speech 1.1 – 1.3 – Moderator: Zhong-Ren Peng, Professor, University of Florida

Welcome remarks: Chinemelu J Anumba, Dean, College of Design, Construction and Planning

Keynote Speech 1.1: Paul M. Torrens, Professor, New York University, Pedestrian AI

View keynote speech recording here.

Keynote Speech 1.2: Ed Manley, Professor, University of Leeds, Urban Space and Behaviour

View keynote speech recording here.

Keynote Speech 1.3: Federico Cugurullo, Associate Professor, Trinity College Dublin, Urbanistic Perspectives on AI

View keynote speech recording here.

12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT (4:00-5:00 p.m. UTC) – Lunch Break

1:00-2:15 p.m EDT (5:00-6:15 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 1.1 & 1.2 (Simultaneously)

Abstracts are linked in BLUE

Session 1.1: Critical Panel Discussion on AI and Ethics in Design – Moderator: Karla Saldana Ochoa, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Panelist 1: Shazade Jameson, PhD Candidate, Tilburg Law School

Panelist 2: Hubert Beroche, Director of Urban AI and Visiting Fellow at the Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence

Panelist 3: Riccardo Villa, Postdoc Researcher, The Vienna University of Technology

Panelist 4: Carla Brisotto, Assistant Director and Assistant Scholar in Urbanism, FIBER University of Florida

Session 1.2: Machine Learning for Spatial Data – Moderator: Emre Tepe, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

2:15-2:30 p.m. EDT (6:15-6:30 p.m. UTC) – Session Break

2:30-3:45 p.m. EDT (6:30-7:45 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Session 1.3 & 1.4 (Simultaneously)

Session 1.3: AI-Driven Urban Design – Moderator: Jiayang Li, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Presenter 1: Meiqing Li, Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida, Using AI to Evaluate Active Transportation Plan Implementation

Presenter 3: Yuxin Yang, Computational Strategist, Sherwood Design Engineers, Think Systems, Think Integrated Sustainable Design with EcoCircuit AI

Presenter 4: Tiancheng Huang, Ph.D. Student, Texas A&M University, Generating conceptual landscape design via text-to-image generative AI model

Session 1.4: Ai-Driven Construction – Moderator: Aladdin Alwisy, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

3:45-4:00 p.m. EDT (7:45-8:00 p.m. UTC) – Session Break

4:00-5:15 p.m. EDT (8:00-9:15 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 1.5 & 1.6 (Simultaneously)

Session 1.5: AI-Driven Urban Management and Administration – Moderator: Laura Dedenbach, Instructional Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Session 1.6: AI-Driven Urban Science 1 – Moderator: Xinyue Ye, Professor, Texas A&M University

5:15-8:00 p.m. EDT (9:15-12:00 a.m. UTC) – Dinner Break

8:00-8:45 p.m. EDT (12:00-12:45 a.m. UTC)

Keynote Speech 1.4 – Moderator: Junfeng Jiao, Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Keynote Speech 1.4: Chris Pettit, Professor, University of New South Wales, The Role of AI to Support City Planning

View keynote speech recording here.

8:45-8:55 p.m. EDT (12:45-12:55 a.m. UTC) – Break

8:55-10:10 p.m. EDT (12:55-2:10 a.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 1.7 & 1.8 (Simultaneously)

Session 1.7: AI-Driven Urban Planning 1 – Moderator: Pengyang Wang, Assistant Professor, University of Macau

Presenter 1: Pengyang Wang, Assistant Professor, University of Macau, Towards Energy-Efficient Urban Planning: A Hierarchical Perspective

Presenter 2: Hao Liu, Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Towards Urban General Intelligence Through Urban Foundation Models

Presenter 3: Meizi You, Ph.D. Candidate, New York University Shanghai,
LLMs + Social Media for Public Perception-Responsive Climate Adaptation Planning

Session 1.8: LLM for Planning – Moderator: Steven Jige Quan,  Associate Professor, Seoul National University

Presenter 2: Yuan Lai, Associate Professor, Tsinghua University,
Building Explainable Urban AI by Leveraging LLMs

Presenter 3: Chaosu Li, Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(Guangzhou),
Automating Urban Policy Extraction: A Large Language Model-Based Framework for Extracting Urban Heat Policies from Planning Documents

Presenter 4: Hyebin Kim, Master’s Student, Hanyang University, Exploring Physical and Perceptual Bias in Multimodal LLMs: Evidence from the Global Streetscapes

Day 2: May 10, 2025


8:30-10:45 a.m. EDT (12:30-1:45 a.m. UTC)

Keynote Speech 2.1-2.3 – Moderator: Yanjie Fu, Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Keynote Speech 2.1: John Landis, Professor, University of Pennsylvania, AI and the Future of American City Planning

View keynote speech recording here.

Keynote Speech 2.2: Shashi Shekhar, Professor, University of Minnesota, What is Special about Geo-AI and Spatial Data Science?

View keynote speech recording here.

View Shekhar’s presentation slides.

Keynote Speech 2.3: Andrew Crooks, Professor, University at Buffalo, Artificial Intelligence and Urban Analytics: Opportunities and Challenges

View keynote speech recording here.

10:45-11:00 a.m. EDT (1:45-3:00 p.m. UTC) – Session Break

11:00-12:15 p.m. EDT (3:00-4:15 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 2.1 & 2.2 (Simultaneously)

Session 2.1: AI-Driven Urban Planning 2 – Moderator: Zhong-Ren Peng, Professor, University of Florida

Session 2.2: AI-Driven Urban Planning 3 – Moderator: Yan Wang, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Presenter 1: Yan Wang, Assistant Professor, University of Florida,
Towards Responsible, Theory-Informed Generative AI for Scenario Planning

Presenter 2: Takahiro Yabe, Assistant Professor, New York University,
Resilience of urban socioeconomic networks 

Presenter 3: Chao Fan, Assistant Professor, Clemson University,
Understanding Complex Urban Spillover Effects via Physics-based Deep Learning

Presenter 4: Yuqing Hu, Assistant Professor, Penn State University,
AI-Driven Urban Building Energy Modeling for Thermal Resilience

12:15-1:00 p.m. EDT (4:15-5:00 p.m. UTC) – Lunch Break

1:00-2:15 p.m. EDT (5:00-6:15 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 2.3 & 2.4 (Simultaneously)

Session 2.3: Ethics and Governance in AI for Cities – Moderator: Kathryn Frank, Associate Professor, University of Florida

Session 2.4: Participatory Planning and Civic Engagement with AI – Moderator: Kyle Dost, Instructional Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Presenter 1: Wei Zhai, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at San Antonio,
Citizen Science in Digital Twin and AI for San Antonio Westside

Presenter 2: Zhaoxi Zhang, Faculty Fellow, New York University,
Engaging Communities with Urban AI Chatbots: A New Paradigm for Civic Interaction

Presenter 3: Ladan Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma,
Bridging the Gap Between Residents and Planners through AI-Driven Participatory Planning

2:15-2:30 p.m. EDT (6:15-6:30 p.m. UTC) – Session Break

2:30-3:45 p.m. EDT (6:30-7:45 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 2.5 & 2.6 (Simultaneously)

Session 2.5: AI-Enabled Urban Science 2 – Moderator: Ruth L. Steiner, Professor, University of Florida

Session 2.6: AI-Driven Resilience Planning – Moderator: Yi Luo, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

3:45-4:00 p.m. EDT (7:45-8:00 p.m. UTC) – Session Break

4:00-5:15 p.m. EDT (8:00-9:15 p.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 2.7 & 2.8 (Simultaneously)

Session 2.7: AI-Driven Urban Science 3 – Moderator: Abhinav Alakshendra, Associate Professor, University of Florida

Presenter 2: Xiaojiang Li, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania,
Mapping and modeling heat exposure at pedestrian level

Session 2.8: AI and Planning/Design Education – Moderator: Ivis Garcia – Associate Professor, Texas A&M University

Presenter 1: Ivis Garcia, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University,
Rebuilding the Classroom: Teaching Urban Content with AI Voices and Visuals

Presenter 2: Joshua Treadway, Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida,
AI as a Design Tool, Not a Design Solution

Presenter 5: Yanghe Liu, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida,
Bridging Urban Planning and AI: A New Studio Pedagogy for Future Planners

5:15-8:00 p.m. EDT (9:15-12:00 a.m. UTC) – Dinner Break

8:00-8:45 p.m. EDT (12:00-12:45 a.m. UTC)

Keynote Speech 2.4 – Moderator: Xinyue Ye, Professor, Texas A&M University

Keynote Speech 2.4: Tan Yigitcanlar, Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Responsible Urban Innovation with AI Systems for Local Governments

View keynote speech recording here.

8:45-8:55 p.m. EDT (12:45-12:55 a.m. UTC) – Session Break

8:55-10:10 p.m. EDT (12:55-2:10 a.m. UTC)

Parallel Sessions 2.9 & 2.10 (Simultaneously)

Session 2.9: AI-Driven Urban Planning 4 – Moderator: Junfeng Jiao, Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Presenter 2: Yuebing Liang, Postdoc Associate, The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology,
Generative Urban Design: A Stepwise Approach Integrating Human Expertise with Diffusion Models

Presenter 3: Juhyeon Kwak, Student, University of Seoul,
Urban Planning and Evaluation Using Large Language Model

Presenter 4: Shin Koseki, UNESCO Chair Professor in Urban Landscape, Montreal University, Co-designing an AI toll for Citizen Participation in Urban Planning

Session 2.10: AI-Driven Urban Science 4 – Moderator: Xinyue Ye, Professor, Texas A&M University

Presenter 1: Xiangjie Kong, Professor, Zhejiang University of Technology,
Bridging Data Gaps: Empowering Urban AI Applications Through Data Imputation

Presenter 3: Yoojung Choi, Master’s Student, Seoul National University,
Urban Building Energy Modeling in Data-Scarce Cities Using Transfer Learning

Presenter 4: Yueyan Gu, Ph.D. candidate, Virginia Tech, Scalable Transformer-Based Foundation Models for Urban Energy Forecasting

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