University College London

Michael Batty is an architect-planner and geographer, who is currently Bartlett Professor of Planning (Emeritus) at University College London and Chairman of the Management Board of The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), which focuses on the development of mathematical and computer methods in geographical information science, urban and regional modelling, and the scientific theory of cities. After nearly 25 years of teaching planning and geography, he moved to direct the NSF National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY-Buffalo). He also has held several visiting appointments in computing, engineering, planning, and geography at the Universities of Illinois, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Bristol, and Michigan, and is currently a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University, and an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University.

His research work involves the development of computer models of cities and regions, and he has published many books and articles in this area. His book Cities and Complexity (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005) won the Alonso Prize of the Regional Science Association in 2010. His most recent books include  The New Science of Cities (MIT Press, Cambridge. MA, 2013) and the edited volumes Virtual Geographic Environments (ESRI Press, Redlands, CA, 2011) and Agent Based Models of Geographical Systems (Springer, Berlin, 2012). He is editor of the journal Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design. Batty has received various honors for his work. In 1999, he was awarded the Sir George Back Award by the Royal Geographical Society, the Association of Geographic Information Award for Technological Progress (1998) and for Innovation (2002). Amongst his recent awards are: The UCGIS Award for Research, 2011-2012; and the Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud (The Nobel for Geography).

Plenary Address:  Urban Scale and Size: Defining Nations, Regions and Cities Through Percolation Theory  (Batty Plenary Abstract)