At this defining moment in the history of cities, the De Lange Conference will ask many of the world's leading thinkers and practitioners of innovative urban solutions to engage in a dialogue on the concept of sustainable and humane cities. Specifically, this conference will pose the following questions:

- What does our urban future promise?
- How can urbanization provide answers to the ecological, social, and economic issues of the 21st century?

The De Lange 2009 Conference will examine the transformational influences these emerging changes may entail. A rich mixture of subject specialists with unique perspectives will enliven and enrich this exploration. The De Lange Conference will have a historical perspective as well as be forward-looking and self-reflective; the conference will reveal that transforming the metropolis is of enormous consequence and relevant to the rethinking of fundamental assumptions that structure our understanding of the world and facilitate new discovery.

The following topics will be addressed by some of the world's foremost thinkers:

- Globalization and the Transforming Metropolis
- Governing Cities of the Future
- Engineering Solutions
- Education and the Economy
- Sustainable, Humane Architecture
- Transportation and Movement
- Smart Planning
- Technology and the Transforming Metropolis
- Climate Change Impacts on Cities
- The Role of Faith Communities in Building Better Cities

This conference will appeal to an audience representing a very broad range of background and interests.

Organized and hosted by the Rice University Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life; Center for the Study of Environment and Society; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; School of Architecture and the Rice Design Alliance; Department of Sociology; and the University of Houston College of Architecture.