On going transformations in society open up ways to think and (re) invent the future. For cities, the current crisis renders a historical sense of transformation and sets new horizons for construction and representation. Virtual worlds, utopian worlds, world-territories pose a challenge to think about the city we want to live in and leave for the future. The awakening of history breaks apart from single-thought paradigm and representation of cities and invite to discuss new urban utopias, new virtualities and territorial potentials.

The 8th International Conference on Virtual Cities and Territories aims at providing a space for dialogue and debate on new readings, representations and city projects where new communication technologies (NCT) play an instrumental and functional role.

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The Conference is organized around six major themes:
1. (Re)define a virtual and utopian city: new critical horizons to think action and representation
2. Social rights, public policies and participation in the new communication technologies (NCT) world
3. The material production of cities: land use and socio-spatial structure models
4. Environment and urban utopia
5. Popular production of the city and redistributive public policies
6. Uses and possibilities of NCT in planning and popular participation

Important dates:
Call for papers: March 18, 2012
Abstract reception: May 20, 2012
Preliminary responses: June 5, 2012
Full paper reception: August 10, 2012
Final response: August 20, 2012

CONTACT E-MAIL: 8CVTRIO@GMAIL.COM





HISTORY

The first CTV took place in Barcelona and was proposed as a meeting point for presenting virtual model developments and tools for representing the built environment, in the context of the activities adjoining the International Forum of Cultures - Barcelona 2004. This three day event managed to draw together some 100 researchers, to discuss projects and advances under a number of key themes: Virtual Cities in the World; Virtual Territory and 3D Cartography; and Virtual Representation of Heritage. At the end of the event, it was decided to continue with this space as an annual meeting point and indeed the frequency has been annual, on an increasing basis. In 2005 the conference took place in Concepción (Chile); the Labein-Tecnalia Foundation organised the third edition in 2006 in Bilbao (Spain); the fourth edition took place in Guadalajara (México); the fifth in Barcelona; the sixth in Mexicali (México) and the seventh in Lisbon (Portugal). The principal objective of the conference is to discuss and carry out in-depth debate between Europe and Latin America, and it is for this reason that the conferences alternate between being held in European and Latin American countries.​

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This year the event will take place in Brazil, which always stands out for the quality of its research and its notable presence in international forums of discussion. Therefore it is expected that this will be one of the largest attended CTV events. Round tables are proposed for the morning with the presentation of communications in the afternoon, and two daily courses relating to ICT and the territory, in addition to evening meetings and free work sessions (proposed by different research groups and the city council).

During these conferences a number of important pieces of work have been presented by researchers, students, professionals, specialised firms, local administrations and prestigious institutions, that impact upon urban-territorial actions and which incorporate qualitative indices for proposing effective solutions to real problems, making use of and incorporating informational technologies and resources which are counted upon today in the realisation of studies, projects and the search for future proposals. This last line of questioning highlights the importance of territory as a source, but not as the starting point, because of the advances into new knowledge and interaction, the development of working relationships and collaboration and above all the learning experience.​

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Links to previous conferences:
▪ 7th edition, 2011, Lisbon, Portugal  [ web ]
▪ 6th edition, 2010, Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico  [ web ]  [ fotos ]
▪ 5th edition, 2009, Barcelona, Spain [ web ]
▪ 4th edition, 2007, Guadalajara, México [ web ]
▪ 3rd edition, 2006, Bilbao, Spain [ web ]
▪ 2nd edition, 2005, Concepción, Chile [ web ]
▪ 1st edition, 2004, Barcelona, Spain  [ web ]

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Registrations
Under construction!

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Programming
Under construction

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Submission of proposals:

Submission of summaries:​

Instructions and norms for the preparation of summaries
The summary must be between 10 and 15 lines in length, and submitted in the language of the communication. ​

Summary format​

• Arial, font size 11, justified paragraph
• Spacing between characters and words: simple
• Line spacing: 1.5 cm
• Paper size: A4 (29.7 cm x 21 cm)
• Upper margin: 3 cm
• Lower margin: 2 cm
• Left hand margin: 3 cm
• Right hand margin: 2 cm​

Presentation of proposals:
File format:
• Adobe Acrobat (PDF)​

Page configuration
• Paper size: A4 (29.7 cm x 21 cm)
• Upper margin: 3 cm
• Lower margin: 2 cm
• Left hand margin: 3 cm
• Right hand margin: 2 cm​

The chapters, headings and sub-headings must adhere to the following criteria:
Title: Arial lettering, font size 14, normal bold.
Text: Arial lettering, font size 12, normal, bold. Sub-heading: Arial lettering, font size 12, italic, bold.​

Text configuration
• Arial lettering, font size 11, justified paragraph
• Spacing between characters and words: simple
• Line spacing: 1.5 cm
• Number of pages: minimum (10), maximum (20), including text, illustrations, bibliography and final notes.​

Content of the first page
• Title of the communication, ¿¿a partir de todas las palabras principales en mayúscula??.
• Summary, between 10 and 15 lines in a single paragraph, in the language of the communication.​

Rules for the references:
The references must follow the obligatory norms established by the Brazilian Association of Technical Norms (ABNT). For the quotations in the body of the text, the author-date format must be used. Eg. (Santos, 1996, p.58). .
Notes:
• The texts linked to illustrations, figures and tables must be in Arial lettering, font size 10.
• The illustration must be saved in a JPG format and inserted in the text.​