The Wharton-Weitzman Future of Cities Forum is an annual convening at the University of Pennsylvania for the people remaking the built environment. Organized by graduate students across the Wharton School and the Weitzman School of Design, the Forum exists on a simple premise: the future of cities gets decided where capital and design meet. Each year, we gather practitioners at the frontier of housing, mobility, climate, and finance to show what they’re building and compare notes on what’s next.
Over seven years, the Forum has convened more than 180 speakers, including four mayors and governors, planning directors, and transit chiefs from New York to Quito — alongside the CEO of Related Companies and leaders from Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, CBRE, Hines, Google X, and Fifth Wall. The Forum has also featured acclaimed urbanists like Richard Florida, Matthew Yglesias, Vishaan Chakrabarti, and Majora Carter.