We are very pleased that from tomorrow the U21 undergraduate Summer School, Cities and Citizen Engagement in the Digital Age will start in Glasgow. Students and staff from the majority of U21 universities will be with us for two weeks. The programme for the two weeks is attached, and i am pleased that the chair of the PASCAL Board, Professor Josef Konvitz and PASCAL Director, Professor Michael Osborne will be speakers. The Summer School is supported by the Research Universities and their Regions network of U21, and I will be co-ordinating the learning activity for the Summer School, which is designed to help students synthesize their understanding of some of the key themes of the course.

The activity consists of imagining the digital future of a city of their choice.

How would this city look in 2040?

Why will this city be one of the most successful cities in terms of understanding urban complexity and providing a systemic management that uses digital technology and other resources wisely, in order to offer services of high quality to their citizens?

How will the role and engagement of citizens be in building the digital city?

Students will share with us their ideal digital future city.

They will make a 2-3 minute presentation in which they will showcase why this city is succeeding and how.

We have recommended that they present their imagined scenario in a creative way, for example by writing a narrative about people stories or by presenting city achievements through news in a future digital newspaper or by creating a simulation of how the city would look.

We hope that all will enjoy their stay with the University of Glasgow.