Conference: May 4–7
The Festival of Ideas for the New City, May 4–8, 2011, is a major new collaborative initiative in New York involving scores of Manhattan organizations, from universities to arts institutions and community groups, working together to effect change. A first for New York, the Festival will harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore the ideas destined to shape it. It is organized around three central programs: a conference; a StreetFest along the Bowery; and hundreds of independent projects and public events throughout Downtown.
The eleven Organizing Partners are: The Architectural League; Bowery Poetry Club; C-Lab/ Columbia University; Center for Architecture; The Cooper Union; The Drawing Center; New Museum (Founding Partner); New York University Wagner; PARC Foundation; Storefront for Art and Architecture; and Swiss Institute.
A conference will address the Festival themes: The Heterogeneous City, The Networked City, The Reconfigured City, and The Sustainable City.
Tickets for each event may be purchased at: festivalofideasnyc.com.
A Festival Conference Pass is available, guaranteeing entry to all events May 4-6. Workshops on May 7 are not included in the Festival Conference Pass.
Wednesday, May 4, 7:00pm
Keynote Address: Rem Koolhaas
Rosenthal Pavilion, Kimmel Center, NYU
Note: individual tickets to this event are sold out; seats are still available with the purchase of a Conference Pass.
Thursday, May 5, 1:00–3:00pm
The Heterogeneous City: Panel Discussion with Vito Acconci, Jonathan Bowles, Suketu Mehta, Rosanne Haggerty, and Moderator: Jonathan F.P. Rose
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
Thursday, May 5, 4:00–6:00pm
The Networked City: Panel Discussion with Adam Greenfield, Natalie Jeremijenko, Anthony Townsend, McKenzie Wark, and Moderator: Joseph Grima
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
Thursday, May 5, 7:00pm
The Networked City: Keynote Address: Jaron Lanier
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
Author of the best-selling You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto, Lanier has long been associated with Virtual Reality research and he currently acts as the Partner Architect for Microsoft.
Friday, May 6, 2:00–4:30pm
The Reconfigured City: Discussion with Robin Chase, Elizabeth Diller, Frank Duffy, Pedro Reyes and Moderator Rogan Kersh
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
Friday May, 6, 5:00–6:00pm
The Sustainable City: Keynote Address: Antanas Mockus
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
Antanas Mockus served two terms as the Mayor of Bogotá. Under Mockus’s leadership, water usage dropped 40 percent; 7,000 community security groups were formed; the homicide rate fell 70 percent; and traffic fatalities dropped by over 50 percent. In 2010, he ran for President of Colombia (with Sergio Fajardo as his running mate) on the Green Party ticket.
Friday, May 6, 7:00–8:30pm
The Sustainable City: Mayoral Panel
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
A group of leading Mayors discusses their work on making their cities ready and open for the long-term future.
Prologue: David Byrne
Moderator: Kurt Andersen
Sergio Fajardo: As mayor of MedellIín, Fajardo transformed his city from the murder capital of the world into a tourist destination and one of the safest cities in Colombia.
John Fetterman: As two-time mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Fetterman has drawn national attention for his efforts to transform a dying rust-belt city into a center for the arts and a beacon for economic revitalization and community renewal.
Greg Nickels: While mayor of Seattle, Nickels reduced the city’s greenhouse gas emissions “to meet or beat” the levels stipulated in the Kyoto protocols. He spearheaded the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (2005).
Michael Nutter: In 2009, Mayor Nutter launched Greenworks Philadelphia, a 15-point plan to make Philadelphia the greenest city in the U.S. In 2010, Philadelphia won the Sustainable Community Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Saturday, May 7, 10:00am–12:00pm
World Café: Downtown NYC: Policy Issues
(limited to 60 participants). NYU Wagner, Puck Building
World Café is an innovative “group-sourcing” practice. Following the Festival, OpenIDEO will select one or more of the most prominent issues for its “Challenges” program, in which citizens and experts from around the globe weigh in with suggested solutions.
Saturday, May 7, 2:00–4:00pm
World Café: Built Environment: David Benjamin, Andrea Blum, Anna Dyson, Mitchell Joachim, Lydia Kallipoliti, Mitch McEwen, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Roo Rogers
(Limited to 60 participants). NYU Wagner, Puck Building
A group brought together by the Architectural League and the New Museum will lead World Café sessions on how the themes of the Festival can form specific ideas and proposals for the New City.
Saturday, May 7, 5:00-6:00pm
World Café: Report Out: Workshop Results and Discussion
Free. New Museum
The Festival Conference is made possible by a generous gift from Toby Devan Lewis. The Sustainable City Mayoral Panel is made possible by a generous gift from John S. Wotowicz and Virginia D. Lebermann.
