Your client just asked for a Smart City. Now what? How can urban medical campuses contribute to more vibrant, equitable communities?

These are some of the questions to be addressed by experts from architecture and urban design firm Cooper Robertson at the 27th annual Congress for the New Urbanism, a major national conference taking place next week in Louisville, Kentucky.

Among the speakers are Cooper Robertson’s Mike Aziz, AIA, LEED AP, who joins a group of architects, urban planners, and traffic experts for the June 13th panel, “How Smart Do Cities Really Need To Be, and Does Being Smart Really Make Cents?” Examining recent case studies and exploring definitions of “smart” design, Aziz and his co-presenters will define the opportunity cost of sustained conventional development and investigate the influence of technology and monitoring on civic life.

Director of Urban Design at Cooper Robertson and a frequent speaker on the topic of smart and responsive cities, in his presentation Aziz will draw on current work including the Project NY initiative, an interdisciplinary task force working to improve citizen engagement and public oversight of policy decisions by making key urban data accessible to the public.

In a separate talk that same day, Cooper Robertson’s Anjulie Palta will speak on “Medical Campuses in the Urban Context.” Exploring the future of these campuses in terms of land use patterns and public health approaches, Palta will discuss how architects and planners can implement design strategies that both respect the need for patient focused environment, while better integrating and engaging with the surrounding urban context. The talk draws on Palta’s own research as well as a long line of innovative medical and research campus planning work by Cooper Robertson, including the Duke University Cancer Center, and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

About Mike Aziz, AIA, LEED AP Mike Aziz, AIA, LEED AP, is Director of Urban Design at Cooper Robertson. His background includes over 15 years of award-winning work in urban design, campus planning, and resilient design. A leader in New York City’s planning community, he currently serves on the appointed leadership council for the NYC AIA Planning and Urban Design committee, and is a member of several advisory groups focused on waterfront planning, water quality, and resilience. Mike is currently a visiting artist-in-residence and adjunct planning professor at Bard College and has been a critic and guest lecturer at Yale University, Columbia University, and University of Pennsylvania. A graduate of the University of Maryland and Savannah College of Art and Design, he is a registered architect in New York and a LEED Accredited Professional.

About Anjulie Palta Anjulie Palta is a designer at Cooper Robertson in New York City. Originally from Wisconsin, she has studied and worked throughout the United States. She holds a Masters of Architecture degree with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree in Urban Studies the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She has had extensive experience in social justice oriented nonprofits and organizations. Anjulie merges her non-profit experience with her passion for architecture and urban design to begin to address equity, justice, and resiliency in the built environment.