Ville Nouvelle Competition, Melun-Sénart, France, OMA_1987
The School of Architecture and the Maxwell School will host its fifth City Scripts symposium on Thursday, Sept. 26 from 5:30–7 p.m. in Slocum Auditorium. Free and open to the public, this interdisciplinary symposia series examines the intersections of public policy, economics and urban space.
This year’s symposium, “Stretchy Cities,” focuses on urban government and a “stretched” urban landscape. The symposium will examine the public conversation in the Syracuse area on developing and managing the diffuse built environment.
Experts, local officials and the audience will consider the most pressing governance issues involved in an increasingly complex and varied urban landscape, the government’s impact on the built environment and whether to preserve the classic urban core and local authority or accommodate a new regional urban reality.
“Stretchy Cities” continues the public deliberation on governance and planning in Syracuse, but also offers a constructive reference point for other North American metropolitan areas as they engage in similar discussions on their future political and spatial composition.
Symposium participants include David Owen, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of “Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability;” Roger Keil, professor of environmental studies and research chair in global sub/urban studies at York University and author of “Suburban Planet: Making the World Urban from Outside In;” Khalid Bey, City of Syracuse councilor at-large and president pro tempore; and Edward M. Michalenko, Town of DeWitt supervisor and president of the Onondaga Environmental Institute. Mary Anne Ocampo, principal at Sasaki Associates and lecturer of urban design in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology will moderate the discussion.
The City Scripts symposia series and accompanying website are made possible by a unique partnership between the School of Architecture and the Maxwell School. The partners believe their collaboration will ensure that policy and design are at the forefront when confronting the challenges facing cities in the United States and around the world. The goal of the symposia is to create an ongoing, interdisciplinary and applied dialogue that reaches beyond the University and, ultimately, influences both policy and design. The website extends the life and impact of the symposia, creating a dynamic resource open to a global audience.
The “Stretchy Cities” symposium is curated by Syracuse Architecture Associate Professors Elizabeth Kamell and Lawrence Davis, undergraduate chair; Carol Faulkner, professor of history and associate dean in the Maxwell School; and Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School.
The City Scripts series is co-sponsored by Syracuse University’s School of Architecture and the Campbell Public Affairs Institute within the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and funded in part by the Collaboration for Unprecedented Success and Excellence (CUSE) grant program.
For more information, contact Lawrence Davis at ldavis@syr.edu
