Emerging practices, paradigms & technologies reshaping the contemporary urban landscape

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

University of Toronto

230 College Street, Toronto, Canada

Lecture Hall (103)

9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

An international symposium focusing on the emerging relationship that landscape and infrastructure has currently taken on, evidenced by the development of major public works in big cities worldwide. Guest speakers will present emerging paradigms, practices and technologies that are reshaping the contemporary urban landscape to reposition planners and designers vis-à-vis the reclamation of urban infrastructure as a critical territory for intervention.

Guest speakers include:

Stan Allen, Princeton University

George Baird, University of Toronto

Pierre Bélanger, University of Toronto

Julia Czerniak, Syracuse University

Herbert Dreiseitl, Atelier Dreiseitl

Kristina Hill, University of Virginia

Michael Jakob, Université de Genève

Nina-Marie Lister, Ryerson University

Kate Orff, Columbia University, SCAPE

Jane Wolff, University of Toronto

Moderators for the panel discussions include core faculty from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design: Aziza Chaouni, Ted Kesik, Robert Levit, Liat Margolis, Alissa North, Mason White and Robert Wright.

The event is conceived and organized by Pierre Bélanger, Co-Director of the Centre for Landscape Research in association with the Programs of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Toronto. The symposium is paired with an exhibit titled Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture, featuring a new publication co-authored by Liat Margolis and Alexander Robinson. Funding for the symposium is generously provided by the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, the University of Toronto Connaught Fund, the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council and National Research Council Canada. The event is open to the public and attendance is free of charge.

Please click here for the symposium poster [PDF].

Please click here for the symposium program [PDF].

Please click here for the speaker abstracts [PDF].

Please click here for the exhibition photographs [PDF].

DVD - Symposium Proceedings



The proceedings of the symposium are available in DVD format online (www.uoftbookstore.com/online/) and at the University of Toronto Bookstore (St. George Campus) starting July 15, 2009. If you do not see the DVD online, please call the Trade Information Desk at 416-640-5820.

For students, educators, researchers and professionals in the interrelated fields of design, planning, engineering and public administration, the disc set features edited recordings of the proceedings including lecture presentations by Stan Allen, George Baird, Pierre Bélanger, Julia Czerniak, Herbert Dreiseitl, Kristina Hill, Michael Jakob, Nina-Marie Lister, Kate Orff and Jane Wolff as well as plenary discussions with Rodolphe El-Khoury, David Fletcher, Ted Kesik, Robert Levit, Liat Margolis, Alissa North, Mason White and Robert Wright. The DVD also features a new afterword, and a full list of reference readings on the converging fields of landscape and infrastructure. For librarians and archivists, the DVD comes with CIP data, ISBN and UPC code for cataloguing purposes. For the full launch message, see: /news_events/2009/06/4402.

For any further inquiries, please contact Anna Lightfoot, Communications Officer (anna.lightfoot@daniels.utoronto.ca), Dr. Ted Kesik, Professor of Site Engineering & Building Science (ted.kesik@daniels.utoronto.ca) or Pierre Bélanger, Director, Landscape Infrastructure Lab, Harvard University (belanger@harvard.edu).