KAEC and New Cities Foundation Announce Second Edition of Cityquest, Major Global Forum on Urban Mega Projects – December 8–9, 2014

• In-depth report from the 2013 Cityquest - KAEC  Forum published today: bit.ly/Cityquest2013
• Cityquest Strategic Working Group launched to identify and share best practices and solutions for urban mega projects around the world
• Launch of Impact KAEC Fellowship, bringing 3 international graduate students to KAEC for 6 months

KAEC, Saudi Arabia and Paris, France – May 21, 2014. King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and New Cities Foundation today announced that the second edition of Cityquest – KAEC Forum – the premier global leadership exchange on new cities – will take place in KAEC, Saudi Arabia, on December 8-9, 2014.

The Cityquest – KAEC Forum is a unique platform for key visionaries, partners and builders of the world’s largest and most innovative new cities projects to share and shape best practices, identify key challenges faced by new city projects, and to set a concrete agenda for the future. The theme for this year’s event is Connectivity as a key driver of competitiveness in new cities.

Building upon the success of the inaugural edition (2013), the Cityquest – KAEC Forum 2014 brings together a strong network of peers, connecting the world’s most important large-scale new city projects and their partners. With some 200 high level participants from over 35 countries, the Forum is a vital and unique platform for shaping the future of major new city projects, which represent hundreds of billions of dollars of investment globally.

KAEC and the New Cities Foundation are expanding Cityquest from a premier forum into a dynamic community with the launch of the Impact KAEC Fellowship and a Strategic Working Group.

Fahd Al-Rasheed, Managing Director and CEO, KAEC, said: “KAEC is pleased to organize and host Cityquest jointly with New Cities Foundation for the second year running and we look forward to welcoming visionaries, thought leaders and city makers from around the world who will contribute their experience of leading practices and exchange knowledge focusing on the main theme of the forum. We also keenly look forward to inaugurating the Impact KAEC Fellowship, an initiative which we believe will have a positive impact by helping to transform KAEC and the region into a knowledge-based driver of the industrial and economic development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”  

John Rossant, Founder and Chairman of the New Cities Foundation, said: “The phenomenon of new cities will increase in importance in the coming years. At the first edition of Cityquest in 2013, we witnessed first-hand, the urgent need for sharing best practices among the builders of large new cities around the world. That’s why we’re proud to be developing Cityquest – KAEC Forum into a global community, with the launch of the Strategic Working Group to intensify knowledge exchange, and the Impact KAEC Fellowship to inject young talent and vision into the development of one of the world’s most exciting new city projects.”

Cityquest- KAEC  Forum: 2013 Report published today

The New Cities Foundation today published a report on the inaugural Cityquest – KAEC Forum. The report distills key themes, concerns, goals and strategies discussed at the inaugural Forum in November 2013. It is based upon the conference sessions as well as one-to-one interviews with speakers and participants.

Authored by Dr. Sarah Moser, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography at McGill University, the report offers a comprehensive insight into the Forum, including:

1)   A concise summary of each of the nine cities featured at the 2013 Forum

2)   Overview of the main themes and common visions that emerged

3)   Outline of the challenges related to constructing new cities that surfaced

4)   Lessons learned, general takeaways and specific new strategies that emerged

5)   Insight into gaps in the discussion and unanswered questions that could be explored in future events

Access the full report here: bit.ly/Cityquest2013

Cityquest Strategic Working Group launched

This year, Cityquest will develop from an event to an active community of leaders and thinkers with the launch of the Cityquest Strategic Working Group. This group will bring together key representatives from at least three new city projects. The Group members will visit each of the three cities and conduct strategic meetings and interviews to better understand and assess their respective solutions in relation to this year’s theme of Connectivity. The main purpose of the Strategic Working Group is to learn from, share and shape best practices across urban mega-projects. The participating cities will be announced shortly. The Group will present findings and insights at the Cityquest – KAEC  Forum in December 8-9, 2014. A detailed report will subsequently be published.

Impact KAEC Fellowship launched

Today, KAEC also launched, in partnership with the New Cities Foundation, the Impact KAEC Fellowship. Beginning in September 2014, this new Fellowship will bring three Masters’ graduates from top international universities to work in KAEC business units for 6 months. The aim of the fellowship is to inject the brightest talent into the new city of KAEC and develop insights and research into the strategic planning of new cities.

The New Cities Foundation is selecting Fellows with degrees in engineering, architecture, design, urban planning or computer science. The successful fellows will be announced at the New Cities Summit in Dallas on June 17-19, 2014. Beginning in September, Impact KAEC Fellows will spend 3 days a week working with KAEC business units to implement urban initiatives in KAEC. The remaining 2 days will be spent developing a group initiative in KAEC. They will present to the audience Cityquest in December and provide an end-of Fellowship report in 2015.

For full information on Cityquest – KAEC Forum and all related initiatives, visit: www.cityquest.net

Ends

International press contact:

Marina Bradbury

Communications & Media Relations Manager

New Cities Foundation

mbradbury@newcitiesfoundation.org

+33 6 17 79 17 72

Local press contact:

Sameer Al-Ghamdi

Head of Corporate Communication and Protocol Emaar The Economic City

sghamdi@emaarec.com

About Cityquest – KAEC Forum

Cityquest – KAEC Forum is the first ever global leadership exchange among key visionaries, partners and builders of the world’s largest and most innovative new city projects. The Forum’s chief objective is to generate cohesive strategies for making these cities of the future a sustainable success. Following the inaugural event in November 2013, Cityquest – KAEC Forum will take place for the second time in KAEC on December 8-9, 2014. This year, Cityquest – KAEC Forum will be complemented by a Strategic Working Group, bringing together 3 new cities, and the Impact-KAEC Fellowship that will place 3 international Master’s students within KAEC business units for 6 months.

Speakers at the inaugural Cityquest – KAEC Forum in 2013 included: Rem Koolhaas, Architect; Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company; Fahd Al Rasheed, CEO and Managing Director, King Abdullah Economic City; Zhaoming Luo, CEO, China Investment Development Co. and Daniel Libeskind, Architect and Design Critic, Studio Daniel Libeskind.

Cityquest-KAEC Forum is jointly organized by the New Cities Foundation and King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

About the New Cities Foundation

The New Cities Foundation is a leading global non-profit organization with a vision to build more inclusive, dynamic and creative cities benefiting people and society. Its mission is to incubate, promote and scale urban innovations through collaborative partnerships between government, business, academia and civil society.

The New Cities Foundation hosts a number of leadership events on the most pressing urban issues, including its flagship event, the New Cities Summit, which takes place this year in Dallas, Texas, on June 17 – 19, 2014 (www.newcitiessummit2014.org). The Foundation also hosts other leadership events worldwide, including Cityquest - KAEC Forum and Cities on the Move, an event on the future of urban mobility hosted in Mountain View (March 2014). The Foundation’s applied research wing, the Urban (co)LAB, manages a number of projects including Task Forces, thought leadership activities and competitions. The Urban (co)LAB recently completed two Task Forces on Urban E-health in Rio de Janeiro and on Connected Commuting in San Jose, California. The Urban (co)LAB also manages the AppMyCity! contest for the world’s best new urban mobile app, and seeks out the most talented urban innovators for the WhatWorks series of talks hosted at the New Cities Summit.

An independent, non-profit organization, the New Cities Foundation was created in 2010 and is financed by its members and partners. Overall, its members include some of the most forward-thinking companies, universities, cities and city organizations from around the world. The New Cities Foundation’s Founding Members are Cisco and Ericsson. The Foundation is based in Geneva and its head office is in Paris.

About KAEC

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is the founder of Cityquest – KAEC Forum and the program host. Strategically located along the Red Sea, 100 kilometers north of Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City is one of the largest and most significant economic projects run by the private sector in the Middle East. The city covers 181 million square meters of land and is being developed into a fully integrated city. The city consists of: the King Abdullah Seaport, the Industrial Valley, the Leisure and Commercial districts, the Haramain district, the Residential Coastal districts and the Resorts. KAEC has succeeded in attracting more than 70 national and international industrial companies, some of which are already operational while others are in the stage of constructing their commercial and manufacturing facilities. KAEC offers a wide range of housing solutions that are suitably priced for different income levels. KAEC residential districts are supported by a high quality infrastructure and a complete range of services and facilities such as The World Academy School, and a medical center for primary care and emergency operated by Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital Company. In addition, retail stores have been fully leased and restaurants, cafes, sales outlets and pharmacies are already open.

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