LIST OF WORKSHOPS

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping economies, societies, and governance systems. AI is now recognized as a general-purpose technology with transformative effects on every sector of society, yet, policy responses remain fragmented across ethics, innovation, and regulation. Further, its expansion depends on a robust concentration of physical assets that have environmental impacts vast data storage hubs, energy-intensive computing clusters, and complex networks of energy, water, and fiber-optic systems.  In assessing these concerns, this two part workshop will discuss two research questions: 1. How to integrate AI into public administration and sustainable development in ways that encourage innovation while safeguarding equity, transparency, and ecological integrity and 2. How to ensure that the expansion of AI and data infrastructure contributes to sustainable, equitable, and secure urban development rather than exacerbating sustainability pressures and  will highlight the debate on the urban, social, and environmental implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital infrastructure — particularly data centers, cloud facilities, and high-performance computing sites that sustain the global digital economy. While these infrastructures are often portrayed as invisible or immaterial, their physical footprint has become one of the defining challenges of our time.

Objectives: We seek to advance a broad global policy conversation on how manage AI, a topic that involves not only examining the institutional mechanisms, governance models, and evaluation tools that can ensure AI supports social good but also one that advances ideas  on how to govern the digital infrastructure as a new class of global public goods, balancing innovation, security, and sustainability. By bringing together academics, engineers, government officials, and representatives from Big Tech, and other the workshop will create an interdisciplinary space for knowledge exchange and collaborative inquiry into one of the most pressing frontiers of global governance. The outcome will be a special issue or edited volume that will contribute new areas of knowledge to the discussion. In addition to its theoretical contribution, the workshop has a pragmatic dimension: it aims to inform policymakers and corporate actors designing sustainability strategies for AI infrastructure. In sum, it will help establish an emerging field: "Urban AI Governance."

We particularly encourage collaborative submissions between academics and practitioners, and papers that bridge disciplinary boundaries, including urban studies, international relations, political science, environmental policy, and science and technology studies. Among the topics are:

• Policy frameworks for responsible and transparent AI

• Integration of AI governance with climate and sustainability goals

• Innovation policies balancing competitiveness and accountability

• Comparative and regional analyses of AI regulation

• Ethical, rights-based, and participatory approaches to AI policymaking

• The role of Global South perspectives in shaping global AI norms

• Environmental and energy governance of AI and data infrastructures

• Urban planning and regulatory frameworks for data centers

• Data sovereignty, security, and resilience of critical infrastructure

• Industrial policy and local economic impacts of digital infrastructure investments

• Policies that mobilize AI infrastructure investment into engines of local development.

• Strategies to prevent digital colonialism and promote digital sovereignty

• Comparative and cross-regional perspectives on AI governance

Although artificial intelligence (AI) is now recognized as a general-purpose technology with transformative effects on every sector of society, policy responses to its governance regarding  its use and the location of the digital infrastructure that supports it  remain fragmented across ethics, innovation, and regulation  As this workshop brings together scholars and practitioners to explore policy frameworks that address these concerns its will discuss the range of needed policies to manage AI in the 21st century so that it supports social good rather than deepening inequality or environmental harm. Further, the workshop aspires to catalyze future collaborations to help establish an emerging field — “Urban AI Governance” — at the intersection of  public administration, technology policy, and environmental governance.

AI ethics in public administration, innovation policy for green and digital transitions, inclusive data governance, and multilevel cooperation for responsible technology. It aims to advance conceptual clarity and propose practical pathways for policymakers to embed AI within sustainable, inclusive, and forward-looking governance systems. The outcome will be a special issue or edited volume synthesizing policy design innovations for governing AI in the public interest.

Dr. Evren Tok is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Innovation and Community Engagement, College

of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. His research focuses on public sector innovation, digital governance, and ethical entrepreneurship in policy systems. He has extensive experience designing many policy design initiatives and international collaborations on governance, sustainability, and future policymaking. His work emphasizes participatory and value-driven innovation in public administration, and he is an active contributor to international policy networks on innovation and governance reform.

Pedro Francisco Vormittag serves the International Advisor to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro and a Doctoral researcher at the Institute of International Relations, University of São Paulo (IRI-USP) where his research focuses on how data centers and cloud infrastructures are reshaping the global political economy, sovereignty, and urban sustainability, with a focus on emerging economies and the Global South. is also a Senior Researcher at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI), where  he co-edited Urban Sustainable Development: Governance, Finance and Politics (CEBRI, 2024) with Eugenie Birch and Mariana Albuquerque. Previously, he served as an editor of Columbia University’s Journal of International Affairs and has heteaching roles at São Paulo School of Commerce. He has been selected as an Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader 

(Policy Center for the New South, 2023) and a NEXT Future Leader (ISPI, 2024). He holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University.

Dr. Esmat Zaidan

Associate Professor and Associate Dean, College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Dr. Esmat Zaidan is a public policy scholar specializing in governance, sustainability, and digital transformation. Her research explores the intersection of innovation policy, technology governance, and sustainable development. She has led multiple international research initiatives on smart cities, ethical technology, and policy capacity, with a focus on linking sustainability and digital governance. She serves on global advisory 

boards and contributes actively to global.

Eugenie L. Birch is the Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor  of Urban Research and Graduate Dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, co-directs the Penn Institute for Urban Research 

(Penn IUR). and is coo-editor, The City in the 21st Century series at Penn Press. Through Penn IUR, she also serves as Co-Director and Secretariat of the SDSN Global Commission on Urban SDG Finance, co-chaired by Anne Hidalgo, Eduardo Paes, and Jeffrey Sachs. Her research focuses on global urbanization, climate finance, sustainable development, and the role of multilevel governance in implementing global agreements. Recent publications include Urban Sustainable Development: Governance, Finance and Politics (CEBRI, 2024), co-authored with Pedro Vormittag and Mariana Albuquerque, Harnessing Urban Innovation to Unlock the 

Sustainable Development Goals (Springer, 2024). She holds a masters and PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University.