Organized in joint cooperation of Corvinus University of Budapest and the Hungarian Society for Urban Planning
📅 November 12, 2026, 5 p.m.
📍 Venue: Hungarian Society for Urban Planning (MUT), 1088 Budapest, József körút 9. — easily accessible via metro lines M2/M4 (Blaha Lujza tér / Rákóczi tér) or tram lines 4/6.
🗣️ The language of the event is English. We do not provide translation into Hungarian.
Can cities become more innovative, prosperous and sustainable at the same time? On 12 November, José Lobo (Arizona State University, School of Sustainability) and Deborah Strumsky (Jönköping International Business School) explore this question from two complementary perspectives. Lobo examines how sustainability can be reconciled with prosperity, while Strumsky asks why invention and knowledge creation are so strongly concentrated in large cities. Two leading international scholars, two short talks, and a joint discussion on cities, innovation, sustainability and economic development. A must-attend event for anyone interested in the future of cities and economies.
José Lobo is an internationally recognized scholar whose research lies at the intersection of urban science, economic development, technological change, sustainability, and complex systems. A key figure in urban scaling research, a faculty member in Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability, and a member of the US National Academies’ Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, Professor Lobo bridges physics, regional science, urban economics, and complexity science to understand how cities generate innovation, productivity, and broader patterns of socioeconomic change.
Deborah Strumsky is a professor in the Economics Department at the Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden. Her current research focuses on how AI can foster entrepreneurial opportunities in sustainable technologies. She received her PhD from Cornell University, worked as an Energy Market Analyst in Boston, and completed a postdoc at Harvard Business School. She previously taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Arizona State University.
Abstracts
José Lobo – Beyond Trade-Offs: Reflections on an Emerging Debate over Sustainability and Prosperity in U.S. Academia
The publication of Our Common Journey (1999, U.S. National Academy of Sciences) is widely regarded as a foundational moment for sustainability as a field in the United States. Since then it has become a successful interdisciplinary field, yet this academic success has not been matched by comparable influence on public policy or broad public support. This talk examines the ongoing reassessment of sustainability research, education and practice, focusing on demonstrating that sustainable development is a means of advancing economic opportunity, human well-being, and environmental quality — not a constraint on prosperity.
Deborah Strumsky – Invention in Cities: What do we know?
Invention is one of the most geographically concentrated economic activities. Patenting, R&D employment and inventor populations cluster in a small number of large urban regions, far more than population or production does. This talk highlights how agglomeration fosters invention and the creation of new knowledge.
Principal organizer: János B. Kocsis, associate professor, Corvinus University of Budapest; vice president, Hungarian Society for Urban Planning.