The 8th International Conference on Smart Villages and Rural Development (COSVARD 2025) is being organised by the Smart Villages Lab (SVL) at The University of Melbourne.
The conference will include the Joint Symposium on Construction in Developing Countries (CIB W107) and Social Value in the Built Environment (TG127) to be held on Wednesday 17 December 2025 (GMT 9:30 am – GMT 4:00 pm). This event is free to attend and will be held in a hybrid format, offering both online and in person participation options.
The in-person component will take place immediately after the 8th International Conference on Smart Villages and Rural Development (COSVARD 2025). Hosted at SASTRA Deemed University in the historic city of Thanjavur, India.
Providing a global platform for researchers, policy makers and industry professionals to share relevant knowledge and examples from practice associated with new forms of rural development, targeting the 40% rural population in the globe and contributing towards a climate-positive planet
COSVARD Introduction
With over 40% of the world’s population now living in rural areas, there is global interest in research associated with the creation of “Smart Villages” to address the unsustainable model for ever-growing “urban-rural divide” and turning it into a sustainable “urban-rural share” development. Smart Village research being undertaken in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne is exploring rural community development, practices and relevant policies with a focus on community-centric planning of affordable housing, infrastructure, sustainable development and growth, community empowerment and other issues related to the creation of Smart Villages.
About the conference
This will be a peer-reviewed conference with a scientific committee comprising global leaders and experts. Papers will be subject to a double-blind review before acceptance. The Proceedings of COSVARD 2025 will be an ISSN & doi publication, published through the University of Melbourne. The proceedings will be catalogued at the Australian National Library as well as in both hard copy and e-collections at the University of Melbourne Library. The Proceedings will also be submitted for possible Scopus Indexing and selected papers may be published as Lecture Notes with a reputed publisher. A downloadable file of the proceedings will be available under the ‘Publications‘ section of the Smart Villages Lab homepagefor public access and wider dissemination.
Themes
Conference themes include, but are not limited to:
- Rural Housing
Housing affordability, low-cost housing, materials selection, energy and water solutions, sanitation, reusability and recycling of waste, skill development, environmental design, disaster resilience and other relevant topics. - Rural Infrastructure
Construction and maintenance of roads and other forms of infrastructure, access to education and health care, provision of services, including energy, potable water, waste and sewage management, creation of public spaces, ICT applications and operations, and other related topics. - Rural Economy
Building social capital, micro and community-led finance, income generation, farming support, crop selection and improvement, market access, pricing, various forms of tourism and other related topics. - Sustainability
Environmental, Social, and Economic sustainability, implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). - Smart Governance
ICT and data-driven solutions, machine learning applications, alternative forms of governance and other relevant topics. - Circular Economy
Framework for local manufacturing, local production, local consumption, use and re-use, repairing, refurbishing, re-cycling products and services, including other relevant topics. - Social Procurement, Social Value and Value-for-Money
Models for promoting localised trades and contracts, evaluation of community-specific social benefits, value for money assessments, alternative forms of procurement strategies and other relevant topics. - Rural Enterprises and Rural Entrepreneurship
Models for supporting people to build their entrepreneurial capability and capacity to leverage new opportunities and empower rural communities at large. - Rural Culture and Experience
Appreciation, preservation, characterisation, comparison or contrast of the rural culture and experience with a solid connection to land, agriculture, and nature which encompasses the way of living, values, habits, and traditions of people living in remote or rural areas. - Climate Change, Global Warming and Role of Rural Development (targeting the 40%)
Solutions for alternative, value-based, context-specific development models targeting the 40% global population who still live in rural areas but with relatively low-carbon footprints. The climate action undertaken among the 60% urban population will make sense only when the greenhouse gas emission is contained among the remaining 40% rural population. In the Smart Villages program, we strongly oppose the current practice towards closing the gap of “Urban-Rural Divide” but rather promote the harmonised “Urban-Rural Share” with a clearly defined and purpose-based lifestyle among both communities. Should we fail to contain the current 40% of rural communities in a climate-positive natural environment and allow the currently prevailing unsustainable practices in their modernisation spree, the damage to the planet will be completely irreversible. - Smart and Sustainable Infrastructure for Rural Areas
Includes research on Modern Housing Solutions for Rural Communities, Developing Efficient Transportation Networks in Villages, Water Supply and Sanitation: Urban Standards in Rural Settings, and Building Climate-Resilient Rural Infrastructure. - Digital Connectivity and Technology Access
Include research on the Role of Technology in Delivering Urban-Like Services to Villages, E-Governance and Digital Public Services for Rural Communities, Cost-effective digital solutions for water supply, sewage and solid waste management.
More information on the conference is available here.
Enquiries should be directed to A/Prof Hemanta Doloi (Chair), The University of Melbourne
