Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Local leaders are invited to hear Santiago Garces, chief innovation officer for the city of Boston, give a keynote address on Dec. 9 as part of a “What Is AI for Urban Governance” seminar at Suffolk University in Boston.
The event is part of the Urban Studies Foundation’s seminar series aimed at promoting discussion among academics and urban governance practitioners on the development of a research agenda for new, responsible and transparent AI capabilities for accessible decision support for urban governance.
The seminar series agenda features training sessions for early career researchers, and is open to other academics and practitioners. It will be disseminated among wider audiences via webinars and policy briefs.
The series will have three key events:
• Dec. 8-10: “What Is AI for Urban Governance” and “AI for Advanced Urban Simulation Methods” (Register online)
• April 8-10, 2026: “AI as a Tool for Inclusive DS” and “AI for Participatory Methods,” at University of Brasília in Brazil
• July 22-24, 2026: A co-produced research agenda for responsible and transparent AI for DS in urban governance, and a methodological toolkit to include responsible and transparent AI in urban governance research, at the University of Manchester in England
A series of webinars and policy briefs will complement the events, starting with a launch webinar that was held on Oct. 24.
The series will bring together urban academics and urban governance practitioners in the three countries, and the follow-up webinars and policy briefs will disseminate the findings globally to wider communities.
Policy briefs will be translated into multiple languages.
The series has the support of the Massachusetts Municipal Association (USA), the National Federation of Mayors (Brazil), and the Local Government Information Unit (UK), who will provide support in mobilizing the local and national communities of urban stakeholders and in disseminating the findings of the seminar series.
The seminar series is expected to generate a forum of discussion with academics and urban stakeholders to address the fast pace of GenAI development in urban governance. It will then create a large community of academics and urban stakeholders engaged in research and practices in urban governance where GenAI is presenting itself as a central future avenue of development.
The seminar series is expected to give a robust contribution to the discussion about the development and use of AI in urban governance.
Click here for more information about the seminar series. Questions may be emailed to [email protected].
Written by Carlos Rufin, Ph.D., a senior lecturer at Suffolk University