• Overview
• Schedule
• Speakers
• Panels
• Archive
• Details

“Citisphere” Panels

Tuesday, October 11

The Design Continuum

3:00-4:30 PM Stamm Hall

Cities possess a spatial element. Buildings are set at varying distances, blocks are left empty by intention, and constructions spread in every direction, even up and down. How much of the built environment is planned, and how much of it arises organically from the countless interactions of thousands of agents? Are mega-cities on a sort of high speed evolutionary process? What are the implications of holding to design versus just letting things happen? From highly designed cities to places where zoning laws have never even been a consideration, this panel will examine how human intentionality, or lack thereof, shapes a space, and how that space in turn shapes the communities that dwell there.

Participating panelists:

• Janice Perlman (The Mega-Cities Project)
• Wayne Riley (Tivoli Industry Solutions)
• James Rojas (Latino Urban Forum
• Joseph Readdy (Portland State University)

 

Landscape Transformations

5:00-6:30 PM Stamm Hall

One need only look out the window of any urban high rise to see the changes a city brings to the landscape surrounding it. At night, lights dot the hills, drowning out the stars. Forests are cleared, sometimes to be replaced by parks. Water flows differently, flood patterns change, even the sounds you hear are different. While these changes have been lamented by many, they are exciting and promising for others. How does a city transform its surroundings? Which of these changes are unique to certain cities, and which do they have in common? Ultimately, what do these changes mean for communities inside and outside of cities?

Participating panelists:

• Matt Burlin (City of Portland)
• Chris Jones (Boora Architects)
• Ken Yocom (University of Washington)
• Nate Stoll (Lewis & Clark College)

 

Wednesday, October 12

Fluxes: Ins and Outs of Cities

3:00-4:30 PM Stamm Hall

Cities are centers of trade and production, innovation and growth. They are masses of resources, both physical and abstract, with material flowing in and out. These include people, food, manufactured goods, waste, energy and the myriad material things that move between the permeable boundaries of our cities. The fluxes discussed on this panel will involve complicated flows of people and goods, ranging from the movement of food, waste streams, and recent immigrants. This panel will focus on the flow of things into and out of cities and the ramifications of these exchanges.

Panel Participants:

• Luís Bettencourt (Los Alamos National Laboratory and Santa Fe Institute)
• Will Elder (Metro)
• Franklin Jones (B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery)
• Timothy Mechlinski (Lewis & Clark College)

 

Cities as Agents of Change

5:00-6:30 PM Stamm Hall

As hubs of human activity, cities can alter themselves and the world around them at tremendous rates.  Some cities are so influential that their urban policy shapes world policy. The Arab Spring showed the world how public urban squares could be central to dramatic shifts in international relations.  Social activists take advantage of the spaces cities offer to change their environments, as well as those beyond the city limits and around the world.  This panel will explore diverse ways that cities catalyze change.

Participating panelists: 

• Luís Bettencourt (Los Alamos National Laboratory and Santa Fe Institute)
• David Galaty (Lewis & Clark College)
• Ken Leinbach (Urban Ecology Center)
• Bruce Podobnik (Lewis & Clark College)

 

Thursday, October 13

Birth, Life, and Death of Cities

3:00-4:30 PM Stamm Hall

Cities have life histories. They are born, they grow and expand, and they may even become “world cities” of global ubiquity.  But cities also can reach a critical peak, lose potency, and falter.  From natural disasters to economic busts, history reveals the range of factors that can kill or shrink a city.  What sparks the birth of a city? What gives a city vitality?  Do cities ever truly “die,” and what does that look like? This panel will explore these questions with perspectives both modern and historical.

Participating panelists: 

• Terry Schwarz (Kent State University)
• Carl Abbott (Portland State University)
• Arthur O’Sullivan (Lewis & Clark College)