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)
Session recordings are highlighted in ORANGE
Opening Ceremony
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
Presenter 1: Emre Tepe, Assistant Professor, University of Florida, A random forests-based hedonic price model accounting for spatial autocorrelation
Presenter 2: Vivian Wong, Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Enhancing Data-Driven Predictive Modeling of Pedestrian Crowd Flow with Spatial Priors – Case Studies with Post-Event Crowd Data on a University Campus
Presenter 4: Jingran Sun, Research Engineering Scientist Associate IV, University of Texas at Austin, A post-disaster resource allocation framework for improving resilience of interdependent infrastructure networks
Presenter 5: Lingyao Li, Assistant Professor, University of South Florida, How has airport service quality changed in the context of COVID-19: A data-driven crowdsourcing approach based on sentiment analysis
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 2: Qing Hou & Qing Zhang, Ph.D. Student, University of Florida, Public Transit Route Design Using Reinforcement Learning with On-demand Micro-transit Data
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
Presenter 1: Aladdin Alwisy, Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Transforming Industrialized Construction: The Synergistic Integration of AI, Robotics, and Sustainable Materials
Presenter 2: Xinyu Li, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Texas A&M University, Advancing Hazard Reslilience: From Complex Modeling to User-Friendly Solutions
Presenter 3: Haoyue Bai, Student, Arizona State University, Sim-to-Decision: Learning Risk-Free Forward-thinking Decision-Maker with Generative Simulator Feedback in the Loop
Presenter 4: Jaechang Ko, PhD Candidate, Texas A&M University, Graph neural networks for classification and error detection in 2D architectural detail drawings
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
Presenter 1: Xiaofan Liang, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Lessons from a Human-in-the-Loop Machine Learning Approach for Identifying Vacant, Abandoned, and Deteriorated Properties in Savannah, Georgia
Presenter 2: Ziyi Guo, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida,
Leveraging Graph Attention Network Model for Adaptive Spatial Planning of Social Infrastructure
Presenter 3: Qianchen Yu, Student, University of Florida, PyRebuild: A Python-based Simulator for AI-Driven Adaptive Resource Allocation in Post-Disaster Housing Recovery
Presenter 4: Xiaohao Yang, PhD Student, University of Michigan, Mapping uninhabitable houses in Detroit using large vision-language models
Session 1.6: AI-Driven Urban Science 1 – Moderator: Xinyue Ye, Professor, Texas A&M University
Presenter 1: Xinyue Ye, Professor, Texas A&M University, AI-Enhanced Mobility Analytics for Crime Resilience: A Fine-Scale Study of Population Flow and Crime Patterns in Houston
Presenter 2: Hao Huang, Associate Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology, An AI-driven Stormwater Management Decision-support Framework: Fairness, Inclusivity, and Citizen Engagement of Flood Mitigation Resource Allocation and Planning in Chicago
Presenter 3: Donghwan Ki, Ph.D. Candidate, The Ohio State University, What and Where Are the Problems? Identifying Detailed Walkability Barriers Using Street View Images and ChatGPT
Presenter 4: Kaifa Lu, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida,
AI-Driven Approach to Optimize and Automate Shared Micromobility System Design and Planning
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
Presenter 4: Lili Lin, Master’s Student, Seoul National University,
Assessing Urban Heat Resilience: Nonlinear Impacts of Urban Form Factors Across Scales Using Machine Learning
Session 1.8: LLM for Planning – Moderator: Steven Jige Quan, Associate Professor, Seoul National University
Presenter 1: Steven Jige Quan, Associate Professor, Seoul National University,
Integrating large language models into participatory planning support systems – A multi-agent platform for enhancing stakeholder engagement
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
Presenter 1: Zhong-Ren Peng, Professor, University of Florida,
AI as Co-Creator: A New Partner in Planning
Presenter 2: Dongjie Wang, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas,
Reimagining Automated Urban Planning from Deep Generative Learning Perspective
Presenter 3: Yu Zheng, Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT,
Intelligent urban planning via deep reinforcement learning
Presenter 4: Ladan Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma, AI-Powered Climate Resilience: Transforming Tribal Energy Policy with Smart Planning and Crowdsourced Innovation
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
Presenter 1: Asma Mehan, Assistant Professor, Texas Tech University,
AI-Driven Urban Futures: Integrating Machine Learning for Resilient and Inclusive City Planning
Presenter 2: Jyoti Singh, Product Research Associate, Helpful Places,
Demystifying and Depolarizing the “Smart” City: The Digital Trust for Places and Routines Approach for Urban Technology & AI
Presenter 3: Leandry Jieutsa, Ph.D. Student, Montreal University,
Theoretical framework for analyzing governance dynamics around urban AI at the municipal level
Presenter 4: Xiyu Pan, Ph.D. Student, Georgia Tech,
Exposing inequitable risk estimation of emergency service disruptions during floods
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
Presenter 4: Sulong Zhou, Postdoc, Texas A&M University, Codesign: An Augmented Reality and AI-Driven Platofrm for Participatory Campus Digital Twin
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
Presenter 1: Yujie Hu, Associate Professor, University of Florida, Unraveling hurricane Ian’s Impact: A multiscale analysis of mobility networks in Florida
Presenter 2: Luyu Liu, Assistant Professor, Auburn University,
Exploring the Potential and Bias of Generative AI in Assessing Pedestrian Safety Perceptions
Presenter 3: Daphne Tapia, Director of Sales, Mobile Group / ImiSight, How can AI-powered satellite data transform urban infrastructure monitoring and resilience?
Presenter 4: Shoujia Li, Ph.D. Student, Texas A&M University,
Optimizing Tree Planting to Increase Shade Coverage around Parking Lots in Low-Income Communities
Session 2.6: AI-Driven Resilience Planning – Moderator: Yi Luo, Assistant Professor, University of Florida
Presenter 1: Benjamin Ennemoser, Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University,
Activating Planetary Data: Generative AI for Resilient Urban Futures
Presenter 2: Sangung Park, Postdoctoral Associate, University of Florida,
Identifying transferable county-level regional interdependence of the post-disaster recovery process using causal discovery
Presenter 3: Charles Shi, Student, Stanford University, Airys: A one-stop-shop web application to finance resilient public infrastructure across the United States
Presenter 4: Shangde Gao, Postdoc Associate, University of Florida,
Explainable artificial intelligence-powered building risk assessment model for proactive hurricane response
Presenter 5: Yuan Ping, Ph.D. Student, The University of Texas at San Antonio,
Hot Neighborhoods, Moving People: Investigating the Role of Urban Heat Islands in Short-Term Residential Mobility in San Antonio, USA
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 1: Mehak Sachdeva, Assistant Professor, Florida State University,
Forecasting Politically Polarized Urban Neighborhoods through Social Interaction Analysis
Presenter 2: Xiaojiang Li, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania,
Mapping and modeling heat exposure at pedestrian level
Presenter 3: Haoming Qin, Ph.D. Student, University of Texas at San Antonio,
Urban Heat Islands and Social Exposure: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of POI-Based Behavior
Presenter 4: Weishan Bai, Student, Texas A&M University,
Leveraging Open-Source EEG Datasets to Understand Emotional Responses in Urban Contexts
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 3: Sicheng Wang, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina,
Development of A Toolkit for Teaching with Generative Artificial Intelligence for Different Types of Classrooms: Case Studies on Four Geography Courses
Presenter 4: Xiaofan Liang, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan,
What and how should urban planners and urban technologists learn in the era of AI? Insights from an Urban AI course
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 1: Zhan Zhao, Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong,
Event-aware analysis of cross-city visitor flows using large language models and social media data
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 2: Xuan Li, Ph.D. Candidate, Hanyang University,
Implementing Intelligent Assistants for Open Government Data: Technical Challenges and Policy Implications for Data Democracy
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