June 17–19, 2015
OCAD University
100 McCaul Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 1W1
Registration is open!
Get your tickets to be among the brightest minds in urban ecology.
Urban Ecologies 2015 will examine the strategies that will be necessary for our cities to move beyond sustainability to becoming net producers of energy and resources
More than ever before, major urban centres will be at the forefront of transformation and change in order to accelerate a sustainable human presence. The framing of the conference deals with the largest possible context of all debates—the limits of our planetary ecosystem. It is within this “Big Picture” context that the conference will challenge the current economic, political, and social frameworks that generate our urban infrastructure and built environment. The goal is to relinquish out-dated “Bottom Line” models in favour of new, innovative, and synergistic business structures and designs that achieve prosperity without sacrificing social responsibility or ignoring the health of the planetary ecosystems that ultimately sustain us.
Your chance to be a part of a global discussion concerning the future design of our cities is now.
The full programme and registration can be found here.
Keynote speakers include:
Carlo Ratti
Director, MIT Senseable City Lab,
Founding Partner, Carlo Ratti Associati
An architect and engineer by training, Carlo Ratti practices in Italy and teaches at the MIT, where he directs the Senseable City Lab. Ratti has co-authored over 250 publications and holds several patents. His work has been exhibited in several venues worldwide, including the Venice Biennale, MoMA in New York City and MAXXI in Rome. At the 2008 World Expo, his Digital Water Pavilion was hailed by Time Magazine as one of the ‘Best Inventions of the Year’. He has been included in Blueprint Magazine’s ‘25 People who will Change the World of Design’ and in Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List 2012: 50 people who will change the world’. He is curator for the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015.
Dr. Rachel Armstrong
Professor of Experimental Architecture
University of Newcastle, UK
Rachel Armstrong innovates and designs sustainable solutions for the built and natural environment using advanced new technologies such as, Synthetic Biology—the rational engineering of living systems—and smart chemistry. Her research prompts a re-evaluation of how we think about our homes and cities and raises questions about sustainable development of the built environment.
Danny Wills
Project Architect, Urban-Think Tank
Researcher, Lecturer, ETH Zürich
Danny is a researcher and design studio critic at the Urban-Think Tank Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at ETH Zürich, an interdisciplinary design practice focused on creating bridges between first world industry and third world, informal urban areas. His work with U-TT investigates sustainable development of informal areas through ecological systems thinking in food, sanitation, and water. Danny is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where he also lectured on the topics of landscape and sustainability.
Venue: OCAD University and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
Registration: Early bird registration ending May 15, 2015.
Hotel: Eaton Chelsea, conference rates ending May 4, 2015
Website: www.urbanecologies.ca
Presented by OCAD University in Toronto and sponsored by TD Bank.
Contact:
Director, Urban Ecologies Conference 2015
Jana Macalik, Associate Dean, Faculty of Design, OCAD University
[email protected]
Co-Chairs
Bruce Hinds, Chair of Environmental Design, Faculty of Design, OCAD University
[email protected]
Roberto Chiotti, Sustainability Officer, Faculty of Design, OCAD University
[email protected]
