Urban Future Lab

10/13/2022

Urban Lab will be at San Antonio Startup Week 2022! Join us on Tuesday, October 18 from 2:15-3:15pm for our panel discussion, “Urban Future Lab: Civic Engagement & The Future of South,” with Urban Future Lab (UFL) Founder Dr. Antonio Petrov and the UFL’s David Robinson Jr., Dr. Alberto Gomez, and Nicole Chavez. The in-person event will be held at The Main Hall - Geekdom Event Centre, 131 Soledad St., San Antonio, TX 78205 and will also be streamed live and on-demand through Vimeo. See links below for registration and streaming.

The Urban Future Lab will discuss research projects centered in and , such as and a Line in the Sky, a vision for Avenue in San Antonio; 1 Million for ; the Pilot Project; and the Project. Additionally, we will reintroduce the project, which focuses on our region's future, carefully exploring it from both sides of the border, connecting, rather than separating, previously hidden, yet geographically, economically, and culturally logical relationships. We imagine forming a new megaregion “South” of the existing , which currently connects Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. The could connect San Antonio with , the , , and , combining two triangles and formalizing a new of more than 35 million people with at its center.

Week (SASW) is October 16-22, 2022
A celebration of entrepreneurship and the people shaping this ecosystem in San Antonio and the Greater SA Region. With speakers, workshops, and opportunities for those looking to connect, collaborate, and grow with , strives to create positive social and economic change by making innovation accessible to anyone, anywhere.

Urban Future Lab: Civic Engagement & The Future of South
• Tuesday, October 18, 2:15 – 3:15pm
• San Antonio Startup Week (in-person panel and streaming on Vimeo)
• The Main Hall - Geekdom Event Centre 131 Soledad St., San Antonio, TX 78205

Urban Future Lab:
• Dr. Antonio Petrov – Urban Future Lab, Founder; Associate Professor, UTSA
• David Robinson Jr. – Weston Urban, Development Manager
• Dr. Beto Gomez – IRYS, Co-founder & COO
• Nicole Chavez – Urban Future Lab, Public Relations Coordinator

Register for your free San Antonio Startup Week ticket here and build your schedule!
https://emamo.com/event/san-antonio-startup-week-2022/tickets

SASW Vimeo link for streaming of all sessions:
https://vimeo.com/event/2479150

Urban Future Lab
https://www.urbanfuturelab.org/

10/03/2022

Our interns Kelsey Brown, Luis Escalante, and Nicole Chavez recently sat down with The Paisano's Mason Hickok to discuss the Urban Future Lab's Project proposal for the .

The Casita Project is the latest initiative to come out of the Urban Future Lab (UFL), a think tank and teaching lab founded by UTSA Associate Professor Dr. Antonio Petrov. Started in 2016, the UFL is housed at the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design. In 2021, Dr. Petrov led a multid...

09/29/2022

We're looking forward to ! Dr. Antonio Petrov of Urban Future Lab will join the virtual panel discussion on the of in 12n-1p Thu Oct 6. He'll share our Project proposal for the , calling for and a to revive neighborly relations w/ and the .

Register: https://tinyurl.com/2p8j8rbf

09/28/2022

Dr. Antonio Petrov, Founder of the Urban Future Lab, has been invited by the San Antonio Report to discuss “The Future of Housing in San Antonio: How equity, affordability and infill can solve the sprawl” as a panelist during the 2022 San Antonio CityFest. The virtual panel conversation will take place from Noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, October 6.

San Antonio saw the largest increase in population of any major city from 2020 to 2021, and millions more are expected to move to this city and its surrounding communities by 2050. Amid a national housing shortage and rising housing costs, how will San Antonio strategically position itself to add residents, while also protecting affordability for homeowners and renters who are already here? This virtual discussion will also address the worsening problem of homelessness in San Antonio.

We at the Urban Future Lab (UFL) believe the answer to housing lies next door, looking to our neighbors in a spirit of collaboration centered on incremental growth and affordable housing options through accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Dr. Petrov will discuss the UFL’s Casita Project, a proposal for the Westside of San Antonio that calls for a “social contract” to revive neighborly relations on all scales. Building on existing data and economic development studies from NALCAB and Prosper West, we propose the social contract as a “living document” based on shared values in which the relationship between the communities manifests in betterment. The foundation is set by investing in new ideas incentivizing local economic development and incremental community revitalization. The UFL’s Casita Project was born from Dr. Petrov’s Next-Generation Faculty Leadership Fellowship at UTSA, in which he and UFL interns Kelsey Brown, Nicole Chavez, Luis Escalante, and Karla Ruiz integrated the Westside into the fellowship’s objectives, contemplating the future of neighborly relations between UTSA and the vulnerable Westside community.

“The of in : How , and can solve the ”
Thursday, October 6
12 p.m. – 1 p.m. (virtual panel)


Panelists:
• Antonio Petrov – Founder, Urban Future Lab
• Mark Carmona – Chief Housing Officer, City of San Antonio
• Rich Acosta – President, My City is My Home
• Debra Guerrero – Government Affairs VP, NRP Group
• Kim Jefferies – President and CEO, Haven for Hope

Moderator: Iris Dimmick – Senior Reporter,



Register for your free virtual ticket here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-housing-in-san-antonio-2022-cityfest-tickets-419685158607

More about the UFL’s Casita Project here:
https://www.urbanfuturelab.org/the-casita-project-a-social-contract-between-utsa-and-the-westside/

More about CityFest here:
http://www.cityfestsa.org/

04/22/2022

We are pleased to share more details about the Project, the strategic plan for 's that we have been working on.

We are a group of creators, empathizers, recognizers, storytellers, meaning makers, social and civic innovators, seeking to "humanize" the future.

03/24/2022

Congratulations to Dr. Antonio Petrov, Founder of the Urban Lab and Associate Professor in the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at UTSA, who has been selected as a member! The lab is a global platform that explores new and more inclusive trajectories of diplomacy beyond traditional politics. Under the patronage of the Auswärtiges Amt, BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve RS / Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Fulbright Program, and Fulbright Germany, selected members from across the globe explore new tools, reformulating an agenda for collective action.

cc: UTSA - The University of Texas at San Antonio, UTSA Research, Faculty Center at UTSA

We are a group of creators, empathizers, recognizers, storytellers, meaning makers, social and civic innovators, seeking to "humanize" the future.

03/03/2022

Congratulations to Dr. Antonio Petrov, Founder of the Urban Lab and Associate Professor in the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at UTSA, who was selected for ’s Advancing Next-Gen Faculty Leadership Fellowship! Dr. Petrov is undertaking a project on 's as a Fellow.

Read More: https://www.urbanfuturelab.org/selected-for-utsas-advancing-next-gen-faculty-leadership-fellowship/

cc: UTSA - The University of Texas at San Antonio, UTSA Research, Faculty Center at UTSA

12/13/2021

The Urban Lab is pleased to welcome our 2021-22 Interns! Kelsey Brown, Nicole Chavez, Luis Escalante, and Karla Ruiz, we're looking forward to continuing working with you on our Partnerships Initiative at UTSA - The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Read More
https://www.urbanfuturelab.org/2021-2022-urban-future-lab-interns-kelsey-brown-nicole-chavez-luis-escalante-karla-ruiz/

cc: UTSA Research

12/06/2021

The Urban Lab is pleased to welcome Dr. Bastian Wibranek as a Research Fellow for 2021-2022! Dr. Wibranek is Assistant Professor for Digital Design and Fabrication at the School of Architecture and Planning at UTSA - The University of Texas at San Antonio. His research focuses on and techniques.

cc: UTSA Research

We are a group of creators, empathizers, recognizers, storytellers, meaning makers, social and civic innovators, seeking to "humanize" the future.

11/12/2021

Congratulations to Urban Lab visiting scholar Dr. Beto Gomez, Co-founder + COO of Irys, one of only 10 international startup companies selected to present at COP26 - Climate Change Conference - hosted by the United Nations in Glasgow, Scotland this week! Check out the feature by Jeannette Garcia in the San Antonio Business Journal below and stay tuned to UFL social media. We'll catch up with Dr. Gomez when he's back for his takeaways on this year's !

The local startup is one of only 10 international startups selected and is the only American and Latinx-owned on that list.

11/12/2021

Check out this awesome feature on Urban Lab Visiting Scholar David Robinson, Jr. written by Cary Clack in this week's San Antonio Express-News! A great read on his path to becoming director of at , where he channels his passions for education, technology, social investment, and urban planning toward helping transform San Antonio. Congratulations, David!

David Robinson Jr. has a vision for San Antonio that welcomes and embraces its diversity...

10/20/2021

Congratulations to Dr. Alberto Gomez and the entire team at Irys who will present at this year’s COP26 - Climate Change Conference - , hosted by the United Nations this November in Glasgow, Scotland! The Irys team’s initiative is the SSEN Project and they will present their findings on November 11th. More info: https://bit.ly/IrysSSENWildlifeRestoration

was created to radically address and develop clear plans to mitigate it. Tech For Our Planet is a unique event at COP26 where startups from across the world can apply to showcase pilots that demonstrate how digital and data solutions are essential to supporting the global climate effort and can help us achieve goals.

An Urban Lab Visiting Scholar, Dr. Gomez is Co-founder and COO of Irys, a top 100 Smart City Data and Analytics technology company that improves the lives of communities through the use of technology. Irys is the only American and Latinx startup selected to participate. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as they share more On The Road to !

Irys optimizes the task of collaborating with your target audience so you can build better products, services, neighborhoods, and more