Join academics, practitioners, and community leaders for an interdisciplinary discussion about sustainability that bridges the environmental, economic, and social spheres within complex urban regions.

From the Outside In: Sustainable Futures for Global Cities and Suburbs is a three-day conference focusing on the sustainable futures in global city-regions, taking the suburbs as its starting point and working its way inward to the city center.

The recent regional damage caused by Hurricane Sandy indicates a need to highlight some of the emerging issues brought out by this disaster in new sessions on suburban resiliency. Keynote speakers include Dr. Robert Bullard, William Fulton, and Dr. Burrell Montz.

In addition to these keynote addresses, the conference will include presentations of cutting-edge research in the areas of public health, architecture, economics, education, and more.

We welcome proposals for individual papers, organized sessions, and round-tables that address a wide range of themes relevant to the future of metropolitan regions. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

* Suburban resiliency
* Climate change, hazards, and resiliency
* Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath
* Vulnerability and risk
* Sustainability and regional water, energy, waste, and transportation systems
* Environmental justice and community engagement
* The role of finance in creating a sustainable region
* Green job creation
* Methodological challenges in planning, measuring, and benchmarking sustainability
* Affordability and the green suburb
* Technological innovation and green industries
* The effects of growing diversity on sustainability
* Designing and retrofitting green suburbs, and certifying green buildings
* The future of regional planning and Smart Growth
* Pollution, brownfield redevelopment, and remediation in industrial suburbs
* The role of government action and multiscalar collaboration
* Social media and sustainability
* Green activism and sustainability education
* Food and agriculture

Researchers will have an opportunity to submit their papers for review and possible publication in a special issue of the new Journal of Suburban Sustainability.
 
An abstract submission console is available at http://www.hofstra.edu/outsidein. Individual paper abstracts should be limited to 200 words and submitted through the conference website before January15, 2013. Proposals for organized paper sessions, panels, and round-tables should be sent to the conference directors, Robert Brinkmann and Christopher Niedt, at hofstrasustainability2012@gmail.com as soon as possible; please include the names and contact information for all confirmed and potential participants. The organizers will confirm paper acceptance/rejection by January 31, 2013.