The City That Never Was

A 21st Century Grand Tour | A photographic series by Ricardo Espinosa. (image via archleague.org

The City That Never Was is a one-day symposium that uses the current economic and housing crisis in Spain as a lens to reconsider how planners, designers, politicians, and financiers conceive of and realize large-scale contemporary urbanization and settlement. Across the world, development has too often failed to acknowledge local contexts, be they financial, environmental, or social. These tired one-size fits all approaches are grounded in the belief that more is better and “growth” is paramount, leading to massive waste and misplacement of resources. This symposium seeks to better understand the systems that have produced these imbalances and explore new models and approaches for urbanization and development. Speakers include Iñaki Abalos, Abalos+Sentkiewicz arquitectos; Dominique Alba, Director, Atelier Parisien D’Urbanisme; Enric Battle, Batlle I Roig arquitectes; William Braham, Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; Timur Galen, Global Head of Corporate Services and Real Estate, Goldman Sachs; Rania Ghosn, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Michigan; Nina-Marie Lister, Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Llàtzer Moix, Culture Editor, La Vanguardia; Willie Van den Broek, Wageningen UR; and Daniel Zarza, Professor of Urban Planning, University of Alcalá. Additional speakers to be confirmed. http://archleague.org/2012/11/the-city-that-never-was/