The rapid and complex expansion ofthe cities brings up new issues and challenges, notably in terms of
architecture, urban planning and sustainable development. Urban-Think Tank
(U-TT) was founded in Venezuela in 1993, with the aim to explore design as a
strategy for sustainable urban development throughout the world by delivering
innovative yet practical solutions through combined skills of architects, civil
engineers, environmental planners, landscape architects and communication
specialists. They work in global contexts by creating bridges between first
world industry and emerging nations and informal urban areas. They focus on the
education and development of a new generation of professionals, who will
transform the cities in the 21st Century.
Partnership and dialogue between
stakeholders – communities, governments and industry partners – are at the
heart of their process. This conference and the following roundtable will
underline this essential aspect as a key for sustainable urban architecture.
The different related issues will be highlighted through the presentation of
several U-TT’s examples – from Caracas to Zurich – bringing to the forefront
how knowledge transfer from the Global South to the North can impact
contemporary cities and the many challenges they are confronted with.
Main speaker:
Alfredo Brillembourg graduated as
architect from Columbia University New York in 1986 and founded Urban-Think
Tank in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1993. He has been guest professor in several
universities (USA and Venezuela), lecturer at conferences around the world and
he founded the S.L.U.M Lab with Hubert Klumpner in 2007 in New York. Since May
2010, he has held the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss
Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich.
With:
Isabelle Milbert, Professor of
anthropology and sociology of development at IHEID
Pierre Martinot-Lagarde, Special
adviser at ILO
* More information: urbamonde.org