Adaptive Metropolis: User Generated Urbanism Symposium

Adaptive Metropolis is a 3-day symposium hosted at Wurster Hall, home to the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley. From September 27-29, 2013, a global community of thinkers and doers will convene to discuss the future of collaborative city-making. Days 1 and 2 of the symposium will feature exciting keynote speeches from featured speakers, as well as debates, plenary sessions and breakout sessions led by groundbreaking practitioners and thinkers. The symposium concludes with San Francisco Urban Exploration, a user generated urban derive led by Rebar.

Adaptive Metropolis is a proud part of UC Berkeley’s Department of Landscape Architecture + Environmental Planning Centennial. As the Department turns 100 in the fall of 2013, we plan a series of events to look forward to the next century of design and planning towards a more sustainable and socially equitable world.

Featured Speakers

		LISA GANSKY Entrepreneur, author of The Mesh: Why The Future of Business is Sharing, and co-founder and chairman of OfotoLisa Gansky is an author, entrepreneur and self-described "impact-junky." She is interested in breaking down traditional business models by bringing together not-so-likely characters in teams and partnerships. Her newest book, The Mesh, illuminates a number of companies, like Zipcar and Kickstarter, whose success depends on sharing - which, in turn, improves our communities and our planet. Gansky founded Ofoto, an online photography service owned by Kodak and was also the CEO of GNN, the first commercial website to be acquired by AOL in 1995.		FRIDAY Sept. 2710:00AM Keynote Speech
		GIL PENALOSA 8-80 Cities, ED. Former Commissoner of Bogota Department of Parks & RecreationAn international leader in creating great cities and communities through active public spaces, Gil Penalosa is passionate about realizing the potential of great places to foster healthier communities with happier residents. Following years of private and public sector senior managerial experience, the Mayor of Bogota, Colombia (pop. 7 m), appointed him Commissioner of Parks, Sport and Recreation for the City Gil led his team to create one of the most successful and renowned parks and recreation systems in the world.		FRIDAY Sept. 275:15PM Keynote Speech
		ALFREDO BRILLEMBOURG Chair of of Architecture & Urban Design at ETH, Zurich. Founder Partner of Urban-Think TankIn 1993, Alfredo Brillembourg is founder the Caracas, Venezuela–based Urban Think Tank, an independent nonprofit group focused on the research and practice of architecture. Alfredo, has lectured on architecture at GSD, AEDES in Berlin, UCV in Caracas, UMSA in Miami, Berlage in Rotterdam, FAU in Sao Paulo, and UCLA in Los Angeles. Since May 2010, he has held the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss Institute of Technology (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) Zürich in Switzerland.		SATURDAY Sept. 2810:00AM Keynote Speech
		STEVEN BERLIN JOHNSON Author of Future Perfect, Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, and The Ghost Map.Steven Johnson is the leading light of today’s interdisciplinary, collaborative, open-minded approach to innovation. His writings have influenced everything from cutting-edge ideas in urban planning to the battle against 21st-century terrorism. Steven was chosen by Prospect magazine as one of the Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future. He unites a deep understanding of scientific progress with a sharp sensitivity to contemporary online trends. Together, those traits give him an unmatched insight into how ideas emerge and spread and how they affect the world today.		SATURDAY Sept. 285:15PM Keynote Speech