This special edition of urbe is the product of an ongoing initiative of the University of Geneva, UCLA and
International City Environment Network (ICE°NET). Within this framework two colloquia gathered colleagues
from academia government and the private sector to reÏlect on the increasingly complex panorama
of urban transformations across the planet. In 2007, a Ïirst group of academics and policymakers gathered
in Geneva to address new sets of challenges that mid-size cities are increasingly being subject to. We then
tracked signiÏicant challenges that emerging dynamics of change in respect to the environment (i.e. climate
change) and energy (patterns of production and consumption) are imposing on urban areas. In addition by
raising the singularity of midsize cities in terms of adaptive policy formulation and monitoring, we identiÏied
new barriers and enablers to mitigate the impacts of those challenges. The discussions aimed to set
preliminary readings of new urban transformative trajectories.
