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Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Envisioning Urban Futures

Envisioning Urban Futures

Consider the daily paths you trace across your city—the streets, transit lines, and greenways shared by neighbors and wildlife. Now, what might that experience be like in 100 years? What would be different if we did things ‘right’? Come share your vision with us and together we’ll build a vision for our future together.

You are invited to Envisioning Urban Futures: On the Move, a space created for shared understanding and a collective exercise in imagining our future habitats. Under this year’s theme, an interdisciplinary mix of academics and practitioners will give short, TED-style talks designed to spark genuine dialogue and share bold visions for movement through urban spaces of the future.

Beyond the stage, an interactive expo will feature local organizers and creators demonstrating their visions for tomorrow. The experience will unfold through shared, sensory moments, pairing live music with food and drink crafted to make you reflect on future food systems. Together, these elements will offer an opportunity to slow down, connect deeply, and co-imagine how the way we move defines the places we call home.

Save the date for this event, which will take place on Wednesday, March 3, 2027, in Hunt Library on NC State’s Centennial Campus.

About the Symposium

This symposium is jointly organized and sponsored by NC State University’s Peter A. Pappas Real Estate Development Program, the NC State University Libraries, and the Climate and Sustainability Academy. It is a core component of The Long View Project, which is generously supported by the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science.

Read about our past events and view recordings of the talks:

For more information on this event, or to be added to an interest list, please reach out to Dr. Jory Weintraub, Director of Science Engagement ([email protected]).

student using virtual headset

Envisioning “Charlanta”

As the population of the Southeastern U.S. continues to grow and urbanize, it is projected that sprawl could create a continuous urban landscape stretching from Charlotte to Atlanta and beyond, dubbed “Charlanta.” In anticipation of such a megacity, the “Envisioning Urban Futures: Charlanta” symposium was held this past November. 
Map of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia

Technician: Charlanta: Envisioning the Path to Inclusive, Sustainable Cities

For the NC State Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs’s “Envisioning Urban Futures: Charlanta,” a presentation and demonstration-focused exploration into urban planning, students at Wake Stem Early College High School — a Wake County public school that is in partnership with the NC State College of Education — were tasked with researching data in the Charlanta regio, which extends along Interstate 85, from Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia. 

NC State Envisions Urban Futures

On October 18, NC State hosted the Envisioning Urban Futures event, a collaborative effort of the the Long View Project, the Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs, the NC State University Libraries, Arts NC State and NC State College of Design’s Initiative for Community Growth and Development. Together, they invited participants to explore cities of the near and distant future.