Almost imperceptibly, the virtual world has started to have a major impact on the mapping, planning and design of our cities. Where once the printed map and physical model were king, GIS and 3D virtual modelling now offer efficient alternatives to visualisation and participation. These are converging with different types of data to create a better understanding of the city. Software can now predict and refine how the future city will perform, from pedestrian movement to tall buildings. And new communication systems allow greater interaction between the city and its inhabitants from the tiny screen on a mobile phone to giant screens the size of a building fa&ccrdil;ade.

This one-day conference, which accompanies the Digital Cities exhibition now showing at The Building Centre, provides a review of the current research and practice in four themed sessions -mapping, planning, design and communications- and will be of value for all those involved in the planning and design of towns and cities.

Speakers include Sir Terry Farrell and representatives from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Microsoft, GMJ Design, University of East London, Space Syntax, Proboscis, Intelligent Space/Atkins, Aedas, BT Innovation, Cityware/University of Bath and Smartslab.