How we got here

When we started the Cognitive Cities blog, it was just a place of a few friends to share their findings about this emerging topic around cities and technology with each other. We are all geeks and were thrilled about the new possibilities of using our smartphones and other gadgets to interact with our urban surroundings.
The more we dived into the field, the more excited we became by the opportunities of all kinds of disciplines involved like architecture, design, mobile, city planning, politics, gardening and technology in general. Finally, being interested in everything made sense. Unfortunately, almost nobody else in Germany seemed to know about this field. So we decided that the best way for us to push it forward was to organize a conference.

It’s really happening

So here we are. Speakers are landing at Tegel all day. We’re making last minute changes to the schedules and adding more details (Did you know that we got Dietmar Offenhuber from the MIT SENSEable City Lab on Saturday afternoon?). The office has been buzzing for the last days and we are realize that it’s going to happen.
Day 1 will introduce you to some of the most interesting thinking around our topic. We already had a look at some of the decks from the speakers and can’t wait for them to present the material. And yes, we will tape it all and put it online afterwards.
Day 2 will be a great encore with all kinds of different events like a scavenger hunt, a screening of Utopia London and many more sessions to listen, share and collaborate.
We will continue to do our best to make sure that you will have a great time as our guests. We want to provide a platform for you to get inspired, make new contacts and push the topic of the future of cities forward. But most of all, we’re really looking forward to meet you all. We hope that this weekend will be a good start for a on-going conversation about the future of cities in Germany and beyond.

We’re honored to have you as our guests. Let’s do this!

Third Wave, Your Neighbours, Martin, Fabian, Markus, Axel, Wiebke, Adrienne

Some last minute updates

Breakfast
We will have coffee and croissants waiting for you behind the registration from 8am on. So no need to grab breakfast before showing up at Heimathafen for day 1.

Restaurants
We will provide list of some of our favorite restaurants around the venue. So if you want to grab a bite between the conference and the party, make sure to sign up so we can book some tables. That’s also a great way to meet more of the other attendees.

CoCities Party
We will end day 1 with a lot of booze at out CoCities party Saturday night around 9pm at Edelweiss in Görlitzer Park. The party is open to everyone so bring your friends and partners.

Schedule for day 2
We have put a schedule for day 1 into your badges. So no need to print it out. For day 2, we have prepared a pdf to download:
Day 2 Schedule

Wifi & Hashtag
The badges also have the wifi password (cocities2011) and the hashtag (#CoCities) printed on them. The buzz around the hashtag is already building up:
#CoCities on Twitter

Public Transport in Berlin
If you come to the Heimathafen via public transport (the station is Karl-Marx-Straße on the U7 line), which we highly recommend, the BVG has a surprise for you. For this weekend, single tickets work as day tickets. So buy one for 2,40 € and you can take the tube and the tram all day.

Keep in contact
Please follow @cocities so we can update you throughout the weekend with latest news and changes.
@cocities
Also, please sign up for our CoCities newsletter on the home page so we can keep you informed after the conference is over.
If you have any last minute questions, feel free to contact us at info@cognitivecities.com at any time.