The principal aim of Urban Age is to shape the thinking and practice of urban leaders and sustainable urban development. This six-year conference series – travelling from New York City, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Berlin, Mumbai to São Paulo and Istanbul – serves as an ongoing forum about how the city is studied, planned and managed in the 21st century.

The Urban Age operates as a mobile laboratory, testing and sampling the social and physical characteristics of global cities through expert presentations and testimonials, research, site visits, GIS mapping and informal information exchange. Findings from each of the cities are analysed according to regional patterns in an effort to uncover global similarities and differences. The results help policymakers, academics and urban practitioners understand the future development of cities and the processes that sustain them.