Living the Global City: Citizenship, Culture and Well-being
October 2005 through June 2006
While sustainable development may be the new conventional wisdom, many people have still not grasped its meaning. Kofi Annan, Secretary of the United Nations, 2002
In June 2006, Vancouver hosted the United Nations’ HABITAT World Urban Forum in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the landmark HABITAT Conference that inaugurated international cooperation on human settlement problems.
Beginning in October, Living the Global City combined eight months of lectures, panel discussions and community events that sought to stimulate and promote public interest in sustainable urban development and encourage a dialogue between all members of the community. Events ranged in focus from the very local to the global, but all demonstrated how ideas, critical thinking and creativity can directly improve policy and strengthen community. The rapid globalization of our world offers both opportunities and significant challenges; Living the Global City was a forum for us all to begin thinking about this complex new world and to move forward to adopt sustainable solutions that promote social justice, housing and improved community worldwide.
October 2005
November 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
Urbanism in the Time of Empire
With: Ananya Roy
Date: Thu. Oct. 6, 12:30 pm
Location: UBC Green College Coach House, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Jointly sponsored by the UBC’s Urban Studies Program, School of Community and Regional Planning, and Department of Geography
Ananya Roy is Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley where she chairs the Urban Studies Program. She is also Associate Dean for the Division of International and Area Studies. Roy is an urbanist committed to the interdisciplinary and transnational study of cities. Her current research examines the apparatus of international development and its geographies of power, resistance, trajectories of domination, empire and insurgency. Roy will talk about urbanism and empires, part of her larger project tentatively titled Povertyscape: The New Global Order of Aid, Debt, and Development.
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Global City Navigators Launch Event
With: UBC Learning Exchange
Date: Thu. Oct. 20, 5:30 pm
An invitation to students, professionals, and the broader public to join
A vital part of the Living the Global City program was the Global City Navigators, a diverse group of volunteers from the community who attended these events on a regular basis, providing a thread of collective memory and a consistent - though varied - voice throughout the eight months leading up to the June WUFIII meeting. These Global City Navigatorsensured lively debate about the urban condition and what can be changed and brought continuity and coherence to the series of events. The Global City Navigators were responsible for organizing an interactive public event held on June 23rd, 2006 at the new Great Northern Way campus as part of the vibrant Earth Project. At this time they presented some of their observations and ideas and engaged an interested audience in dialogue around issues of consumption, sustainable food networks, the rural-urban connection, education for a sustainable future, and the location of change, which they situated in everyday life.
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Arts in Action : Global Responses and the Downtown Eastside Forum
Date: Thu. and Fri., Oct. 20 and 21, 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Location: 29 West Hasting Street
Sponsored by the Community Arts Initiative
This two-day forum focused on community cultural development, enlisting researchers from the Downtown Eastside (DTES) to look at ways local artists and arts organizations, using successful projects in other cities as models, can ameliorate the pressures of gentrification for the marginalized population of the Downtown Eastside.
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The Sustainable City
Panel Discussion With : Hon. Michael Harcourt, H. Peter Oberlander, William Rees, Stan Williams and Nola-Kate Seymoar; introduced by Dennis Pavlich and convened by Vanessa Timmer
Date: Fri. Oct. 21, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson Street
Archived Podcast is availabe
In this inaugural event of Living the Global City, the Honourable Michael Harcourt presented “Vancouverism: New Deal for Cities and Communities and World Urban Forum opportunities for Vancouver” followed by H. Peter Oberlander who presented a historical perspective on the partnership of Canada and the United Nations in mitigating sustainable urbanization globally. A panel discussion followed, focusing on Vancouver’s future as a sustainable, livable and resilient city, and the possibilities and challenges in creating sustainable cities around the globe. A photo exhibition by the Environmental Youth Alliance framed youth perspectives on cities generally, as well as sustainability specifically.
The Honourable Michael Harcourt is the former Premier of British Columbia (1991-1996), Alderman (1972-1980), and Mayor of Vancouver (1980-1986). He is currently Chair of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for Cities and Communities, Honorary Chair of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities. Harcourt was the Co-Chair of the World Urban Forum.
H. Peter Oberlander is Professor Emeritus and founding Director of the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning, and founder of the UBC Centre for Human Settlements. Currently, he is a Special Advisor to the Commissioner General, World Urban Forum 2006, and Canada’s Minister for Western Economic Diversification. Oberlander was the key organizer of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, HABITAT 1976 in Vancouver, received the Order of Canada in 1995, and was promoted to Officer in 2001.
William Rees is Professor in the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning and is perhaps best known in the field of public policy for his invention of the ecological footprint analysis, a quantitative tool that estimates humanity’s ecological impact on the ecosphere in terms of appropriated land and water use.
Stan Williams is a youth and aboriginal leader with Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Advocates (KAYA), was a former coordinator of Redwire Magazine, Canada’s first-ever aboriginal youth-run magazine, and was an active participant in the 2005 World Urban Forum in Barcelona.
Nola-Kate Seymour is the President and CEO of the International Center for Sustainable Cities. With a background in community economic development and social psychology, Seymoar has worked in sustainable development at the international level since the late 1980s.
Dennis Pavlich is Vice President of External and Legal Affairs at the University of British Columbia, and the Chair and President of Great Northern Way Campus Ltd.
Vanessa Timmer is a Doctoral Candidate in the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, and is researching the evolving role of international environmental organizations in global governance for sustainability.
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Focusing Our Existing View
With: SFU Regional Vancouver Urban Observatory (RYu)
Date: Mon. Oct. 24, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Location: SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, 580 West Hastings Street
Focusing ouR View offered a unique opportunity to explore and develop new ways for tracking change in our region. This workshop and dialogue, led by the Regional Vancouver Urban Observatory, brought together between 100 to 150 individuals who developed a set of urban indicators for regional Vancouver. These indicators were presented to the public and the international community at a highlight event at the World Urban Forum in June 2006. These indicators also became the focus of the Observatory’s monitoring activities.
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Heart of the City Festival
Date: Thu. Oct. 27 to Sun. Nov. 6
Location: Carnegie Community Centre, 20 West Hastings Street
Presented by the Carnegie Community Centre and the Vancouver Moving Theatre in conjunction with the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians
Beginning October 27th, the Downtown Eastside unveiled its second annual Heart of the City Festival, a community open house with DTES-involved musicians, actors, poets, painters, panelists and filmmakers. The Festival provided a glimpse of the many faces, sounds and experiences of this remarkable community in the heart of Vancouver, and offered a platform for the voice of the people of the DTES to celebrate its vibrancy, history, activism, cultures and art forms. The Festival events took place throughout the DTES, including Victory Square, Gastown, Chinatown, and Oppenheimer Park.
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From Cosmic City to Global Village : Mcluhan, Media and the Metropolis
With: Richard Cavell
Date: Mon. Oct. 31, 7:30 pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Alice Mackay Room, 350 West Georgia Street
In conjunction with the Vancouver Public Library
Richard Cavell is Professor of English and Director of the International Canadian Studies Centre at UBC. His current research interests are in theories of spatial production as they apply broadly within cultural studies. With the phrase "the global village," Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan set in motion a debate about the role of the local within an increasingly globalized world of networks and interfaces. Cavell spoke on McLuhan's notion of bio-technological embodiment as it envisioned the globe itself as human prosthesis wired together by electronic media.
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Of Race and Rust : What We Can Learn From Urban Inequality in the United States
With: Thomas J. Sugrue
Date: Wed. Nov. 2, 6:00 pm
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Terasen Theatre (Room 1800), 515 West Hastings Street
Archived Podcast is availabe
Co-sponsored by UBC’s Urban Studies Program and Department of History, and SFU’s Department of History
Thomas J. Sugrue is Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Sugrue is a specialist in 20th century American politics, urban history, race relations, poverty and public policy, and colonial American history. Outside the classroom, Sugrue combines scholarly research with civic engagement through his involvement in civil rights, local and national urban policy and the Bread and Roses Community Fund, a foundation that supports grassroots organizations working for racial and economic equality. His talk addressed issues of racial and economic (in)equality in the United States.
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Sweet Land Of Liberty : The Unfinished Struggle for Racial Equality in the North
With: Thomas J. Sugrue
Date: Thu. Nov. 3, 12:30 pm
Location: UBC Green College Coach House, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cosponsored by UBC’s Department of History
Thomas J. Sugrue is Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Sugrue is a specialist in 20th century American politics, urban history, race relations, poverty and public policy, and colonial American history. Outside the classroom, Sugrue combines scholarly research with civic engagement through his involvement in civil rights, local and national urban policy and the Bread and Roses Community Fund, a foundation that supports grassroots organizations working for racial and economic equality. His talk was based on his new book of the same name, and addressed issues of racial and economic (in)equality in the United States.
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Enduring Modernity?: London as a World City
With: Dana Arnold
Date: Mon. Nov. 7, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Lasserre Building, Room 102/104, 6333 Memorial Road
Organized by the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory as part of the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series
Dana Arnold is Professor of Architectural History and Director of the Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Southampton, UK. Her recent research focuses on issues of class, economy, landscape and institutions in 18th and 19th century London, employing a range of theoretical models as a means of explaining and articulating sets of social, cultural and spatial relationships. Her latest book, Rural urbanism : London landscapes in the early 19th century (Manchester University Press, 2005) is published in Canada by UBC Press. This talk, which considers how London developed as, and remains, a world city and its influence on other urban plans, was the inaugural lecture of UBC Art History, Visual Art, and Theory’s (AHVAT) Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series on the theme of “Urban Culture in Global Space”.
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The Wired City: Building Participatory Community
Panel Discussion With: David Vogt and Ron Burnett
Date: Wed. Nov. 9, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson Street
Archived Podcast is availabe
David Vogt is Executive Director of the Mobile MUSE Network, a pioneering research and development effort to establish Vancouver as a world-leader in the emerging mobile medial industry. Vogt is Director of Digital Learning Projects at UBC, and is at home in both the corporate and academic worlds. Ron Burnett is President of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and former Director of the Graduate Program in Communications at McGill University. His most recent book, How images think, raises questions about the nature of knowledge in a networked world.
Vogt and Burnett led the panel discussion on the many different ways in which communities are shaped and reshaped through the use of mobile technologies, with particular reference to our changing relationship with the cities we inhabit. By considering new forms of connection among people and their communities, new networks of interaction and creativity, and most importantly, the shifting landscape of city life that is made possible because of mobile technologies, Vancouver may transcend its “most livable city” status to become the leading digital lifestyle capital of the world.
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Archi-Tizing: The Culture Of Selling Condominium Vancouver
With: Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe
Date: Wed. Nov. 16, 5:30 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street
Archived Podcast is availabe
In collaboration with UBC Arts Wednesday
Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe is Head of the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia, and wrote the lead position paper on The Ideal City in preparation for the 2006 World Urban Forum in Vancouver. His research on the intersections between the Modern Movement design practice and late British imperial policy was awarded a J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship, and his book, The New Spirit, garnered the 1998 Vancouver Book Prize. Initiator of the Living the Global City program, his current research includes the changing social and cultural role of architecture in Reconstruction era Canada, with particular respect to the design of the urban fabric. Windsor-Liscombe discussed the use of high culture in the promotion of Vancouver’s hot real estate market.
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The Participatory City
Panel Discussion With: Erminia Maricato and Ron Vanwynsberghe and representatives from the City of Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver Regional District
Date: Mon. Nov. 21, 6:00 - 10:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson Street
Erminia Maricato teaches at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Sao Paulo, and is Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Cities in Brazil. Rob Vanwynsberghe is Assistant Professor at UBC’s Institute of Health Promotion Research, and is involved with the Learning City Project, which brings together researchers from UBC, SFU, BCIT and Emily Carr Institute to address sustainability issues.
Maricato and Vanwynsberghe led this discussion on The participatory city, using their own experiences in Brazil and Vancouver respectively as case studies for how civil society and government can reinforce each other’s contributions to social learning, democratic engagement and practical urban problem-solving. Following their discussions, there was opportunity for a public dialogue on how community stakeholders can begin to have an impact on policy development, in particular as it related to issues of sustainability.
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Repeat as Needed
With: George Yu
Date: Wed. Nov. 23, 5:00 pm
Location: UBC Lasserre Building, Room 102/104, 6333 Memorial Road
Organized by the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory as part of the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series
George Yu teaches design at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIArc) and heads George Yu Architects in Los Angeles. Yu has received extensive attention because of his work on rethinking the nature of retail architecture and design, in particular as it relates to suburban sprawl. In 2000, Yu was awarded the Canada Council’s most prestigious award in architecture, the Prix de Rome. His talk explored some of his various projects, built or imagined, for a number different clients and highlighted the role of the architect in the realization (or inability of the realization) of sustainable schemes.
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Night Dreams: American Painters in la Ville Lumiere (1870-1914)
With: S. Hollis Clayson
Date: Wed. Jan. 11, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Lasserre 102, 6333 Memorial Rd.
Organized by the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory as part of the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series, Clayson’s talk was a study of Paris during the period of transition to electric light.
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Modernism is Still Relevant: What Policymakers Want to Know About Cities as Places That Researchers Cannot Answer (Yet)
With: Josef Konvitz
Date: Thu. Jan. 12, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Room C150/180, 800 Robson St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
rganized in conjunction with the UBC Department of History, Dr. Josef Konvitz addressed the gap between issues of urban policy and urban research, with a focus on urban space, and set out some pointers to guide policy in the absence of better empirical research and evaluation.
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The End of Education With David Orr
Date: Fri. Jan. 13, 12:00 pm
Location: UBC Chan Centre for Performing Arts Concert Hall
Organized by the Global Citizenship Seminar Series, Dr. Orr’s talk followed-up his famous essay ‘What is Education For.’ He sought to connect sustainability, education and politics through a careful consideration of how and what the university community learns in an effort to achieve ‘ecological literacy’ for all.
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Urban Landscape Real Estate
Panel Discussion With: Michael Geller
Date: Mon. Jan. 16, 7:00 pm
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Segal Centre, 515 W. Hastings St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
Co-Sponsored with Simon Fraser University, the panel included prominent Vancouver property developers and real estate industry professionals who discussed who really determines the urban landscape in the region.
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Who Owns The City? An Open Forum On Public Space And Private Property
Panel Discussion With: Thomas Kemple and Nick Blomley
Date: Wed. Jan. 18, 6:30 pm
Location: Carnegie Centre Theatre, 401 Main St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
The panel discussed recent struggles over the control of public space and the definition of “private property” in Vancouver.
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Running The City : The Urban Commons
Panel Discussion: Moderated by Mark E. Warren with Jennifer Clarke, Margaret Kohn & Don Mitchell
Date: Wed. Jan. 25, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Room C150/180, 800 Robson St.
Organized in Conjunction with the UBC Department of Political Science.
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Can Cities Rescue the Millenium Development Goals?
With: Pietro Garau
Date: Fri. Jan. 27, 6:00 pm
Location: Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Archived Podcast is availabe | View Text (PDF, 94 KB)
Pietro Garau, an architect and an urban planner, teaches urban policy at the First Faculty of Architecture of the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” Garau discussed how cities can become “Millennium Cities”: places where citizens can build the dream of a better life today for all and a sustainable future tomorrow.
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Conservation For The City Of The Future
With: Harold Kalman
Date: Thu. Feb. 2, 7:30 pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Alice Mackay Room
Organized in conjunction with the Vancouver Public Library, Harold Kalman showed not only how architectural conservation contributes to environmental conservation, but also how it enables us to remember our past as we forge into the future.
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With Stephen Lewis
With: Stephen Lewis
Date: Mon. Feb. 6, 12:00 pm
Location: UBC Chan Centre, 6265 Crescent Rd.
Organized by the UBC Global Citizenship Seminar Series. Stephen Lewis is the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and Commissioner for the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.
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Vancouver: Dream City With Lance Berelowitz and Max Wyman
With: Lance Berelowitz and Max Wyman
Date: Tue. Feb. 7, 7:30 pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Alice Mackay Room
Author Lance Berelowitz explored the city’s seductive natural setting, changing civic values, and its planning and design culture. He was joined by Max Wyman, respected art critic, author, and member of the Order of Canada to discuss Vancouver’s emerging urban form: the buildings, public spaces, extraordinary landscapes and cultural values that have turned the city into the poster-child of North American urbanism.
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Writing the City
Panel Discussion With: Timothy Taylor, Jean Barman, and Richard Cavell, chaired by Ira Nadel
Date: Wed. Feb. 8, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
In conjunction with UBC Arts Wednesday, this panel of writers and critics discussed the challenges of constructing the city in literature and history.
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Sharing Sacred Space: A Dialogue
Date: Thu. Feb. 9 and Fri. Feb. 10
Sponsored by Simon Fraser University in collaboration with the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, SFU Office of the President, SFU Dialogue Programs (Continuing Studies).
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Vancouver, Detroit, Havana With Stan Douglas
With: Stan Douglas
Date: Thu. Feb. 16, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Organized by the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory as part of the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series. Stan Douglas is an internationally respected photo-based conceptual artist with a particular concern for urban issues. He discussed socio-cultural identity and representation of development in three major contemporary cities: namely Vancouver, Detroit, and Havana.
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Mid-Sized Cities: Sustainable Growth in the Okanagan Valley
Panel Discussion With: Carlos Teixeira, Donna Senese and Bernard Momer
Date: Tue. Feb. 21, 10:00 am
Location: UBC Okanagan (Kelowna campus), Arts Building
Organized by Unit #1: Community, Culture, and Global Studies, UBC Okanagan. An exploration of the rapid population and urban growth of a mid-sized city, Kelowna (Okanagan Valley). Sustainable development strategies were discussed by a panel of scholars and community partners.
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Designing The City: Interweaving Vision & Practice
Panel Discussion: Moderated by Peter Busby, Architect, Busby Perkins + Will. With Dale Mikkelsen; Gordon Price; Joe van Bellegham; Marta Farevaag; Melina Scholefield; Nathan Edelson
Date: Wed. Feb. 2, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson Street
Archived Podcast is availabe
Designing the city for a liveable, sustainable future requires a multi-, inter-disciplinary approach. This panel discussed the current practice and future vision of the sustainable design of the City of Vancouver from the perspectives of professionals active in the sustainable aspects of architecture, landscape architecture, planning and development.
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The Creative City: Cultural Activity And Its Vital Contribution To The Fulfilled Urban Life
With: Max Wyman
Date: Tue. Feb. 28, 7:30 pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library Alice Mackay Room, 350 W. Georgia St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
rganized in conjunction with the Vancouver Public Library, Max Wyman argued that, as we move from the Information Age to the Imagination Age, the role of creative activity is fundamental to the healthy and peaceful development of human society.
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Urban Genderscapes in Cross- Cultural Settings: What Has the City Got to Do with Gender?
Date: Wed. Mar. 1, 6:00 pm
Location: Collingwood Neighbourhood House, 5288 Joyce St.
In conjunction with the UBC Centre for Research in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations. Panel discussion with Cecily Nicholson, Rebecca Koeller, Tanja Winkler and Ariadna Fernandez; convened by Leonora Angeles. Leonora Angeles joined doctoral students to discuss how the role and perspective of a woman changes in relation to the city in which she lives.
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Mythical Space: Urban Landscape and Narrativity Around the Mediterranean
With: Jean-Louis Cohen
Date: Thu. Mar. 2, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Lasserre 102, 6333 Memorial Rd.
Archived Podcast is availabe
Organized by the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory as part of the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series. Jean-Louis Cohen considered how certain Mediterranean urban centers, including Marseille, Alexandria, and Casablanca, have been transformed and substantially reshaped by modernization since the late 19th century.
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Ingredients for a Healthy City and the 2010 Olympics
With: Rob Vanwynsberghe
Date: Wed. Mar. 8, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
Urban Indicators in conjunction with UBC Celebrate Research
Rob VanWynsberghe and others talked about issues of sustainability and community as they relate to Vancouver’s development towards an Olympic host city.
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With David Suzuki
With: David Suzuki
Date: Mon. Mar. 13, 12:00 pm
Location: UBC Chan Centre for Performing Arts
Organized by the Global Citizenship Seminar Series.
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Living Room: Issues of Space & Technique
With: Bob Worden, Cameron Muir, Lance Jakubec, Barry Downs And Paul Whitney
Date: Wed. Mar. 15, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson St.
Architect Barry Downs, urban planner and developers Bob Wordon, Cameron Muir and Lance Jakubec of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and Paul Whitney of the Vancouver Public Library invite citizens into dialogue about actual living spaces and conditions encountered in the contemporary city. This panel provided an opportunity for all to voice and discuss practical — and sustainable — solutions.
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Responsibility and Historic Injustice
With: Iris Young
Date: Fri. Mar. 17, 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Location: UBC St John’s College Lecture Hall, 2111 Lower Mall.
Organized by the UBC Department of Political Science, Iris Young argued that the reason to care about historic injustice is because there is present structural injustice. This lecture proposed an alternative, forward-looking, conception of responsibility for structural injustice.
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Mid-Sized Cities: Sustainable Growth in the Okanagan Valley
Date: Tue. Mar. 21, 11:30 am
Location: UBC Okanagan Science Building, Room 333
Colloquium with Larry Bourne and Mark Seasons.
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"Does City Size Matter: The Challenges Facing Mid-Size Cities in a Competitive World" and "The Elephant in the Room: Planning for Decline in Mid-Size Cities"
Panel Discussion: Chaired by Bernard Bauer (UBCO)
Date: Tue. Mar. 21, 11:30 am
Location: Rotary Centre for the Arts – The Mary Irwin Theatre, 421 Cawston Avenue, Kelowna
A panel composed of community planners and scholars discussed sustainable development strategies for mid-sized cities, with specific reference to the rapid urban and population growth experienced by cities in the Okanagan Valley. With Ken Arcuri (Planning Services, Regional District of Central Okanagan); Larry Bourne (University of Toronto); Darwin Horning (Planning Department, City of Vernon); Ron Mattiussi (Planning and Corporate Services, City of Kelowna); Mark Seasons (University of Waterloo); John Wagner (UBCO).
Events were co-sponsored by: Irving K Barber School of Arts and Sciences, University of British Columbia Okanagan; Unit #1: Community, Culture, and Global Studies, UBCO; City of Kelowna.
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Growing Up In Cities
With: David Driskell
Date: Wed. Mar. 22, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson St.
David Driskell’s talk focussed on the experience of young people growing up in the global city, and their capacity — and right — to participate in processes of community change.
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Gender and Urban Governance: How are Women Doing in the City?
Roundtable Discussion: Convened by Leonora Angeles
Date: Wed. Mar. 29, 6:00 pm
Location: Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main St.
With Suzanne Anton, Lisa Barrett, Sandra Green, Cecily Nicholson, Anne Roberts, Anita Romaniuk, Barbara Sharp, and Ellen Woodsworth
Representatives from GVRD City Councils, community groups, and other non-governmental organizations joined moderator Leonora Angeles to discuss the current status and role of women in civic and community governance associations.
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Urban Agonistes
With: Wendy Pullan
Date: Thu. Mar. 30, 5:30 pm
Location: UBC Lasserre 102, 6333 Memorial Rd.
Organized by the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory as part of the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series and the Green College Interdisciplinary Workshops on “The Holy City of Jerusalem: Desire and the Conflict-Past and Present” for which she is a keynote speaker. Wendy Pullan is Senior Lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Architecture at the University of Cambridge UK and Head of Graduate Studies in the Department of Architecture. Her talk explored Jerusalem as a locus of global conflicts against a background of increasing concern with national, ethnic and religious identities in the urban setting.
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City Of Youth: World Urban Café
Date: Wed. Apr. 5, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square HSBC Hall, 800 Robson St.
Interactive forum using song, spoken word, dance and other creative forms. A youth-facilitated discussion engaged participants in an exploration of models of meaningful youth engagement in cities and of ways to turn ideas for a youth-friendly city into action.
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The Renewable Planet Treaty: Workshop on the Relationship Between an International Sustainability Treaty and Urban Sustainability
With: Leonard Angel
Date: Mon. Apr. 10, 12:00 - 3:00 pm
Location: Great Northern Way Conference Centre, 555 Great Northern Way
In conjunction with the World Federalist Movement Canada, Vancouver Branch. The goal of the Renewable Planet Treaty is to provide a sustainability plan that ensures that our planet’s resources are used in renewable amounts.
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Feeding the City: Towards a Just and Sustainable Food System
Panel Discussion With: Herb Barbolet, Michael Heasman, Devorah Kahn and Shefali Raja. Chaired by Graham Riches
Date: Wed. Apr. 12, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson St.
Archived Videocast is availabe
Co-sponsored by the UBC School of Social Work and Family Studies and the Vancouver Food Policy Council. The panel considered the need to create just and sustainable urban food systems from the perspectives of the geo-politics of global food systems.
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Educating for Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship
Panel Discussion: Convened by Dr Shafik Dharamsi, UBC, and Dr Mark Winston, SFU. With Alice Cassidy, Winnie L Cheung, Jim Frankish, Margo Fryer, Victor Law, Larry Rossoff, Robert Woollard, Jerry Green, Shelley K Jones, and Jerry Spiegal
Date: Mon. Apr. 24, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St, 350 W. Georgia St.
In conjunction with the UBC Community Dentistry, the Centre for International Health, and the SFU Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue
The community was invited to engage a panel of scholars, students, and community partners in dialogue about the role of university in society. The panel explored what is required to enrich teaching and learning practices to prepare students to be “responsible members of society, who will value diversity, work with and for their communities, and be agents for positive change.”
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Vancouver’s Economic Future: New Development Trajectories
Panel Discussion With: Robert W. Helsey and Thomas Hutton
Date: Wed. Apr. 26, 7:30 pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library Alice MacKay Room, 350 W. Georgia St.
In conjunction with the Vancouver Public Library, Robert W. Helsey and Thomas Hutton discussed the dimensions of the ‘post’ post-industrial urban economy, with specific reference to Vancouver.
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On European Racialization
With: David Theo Goldberg
Date: Thu. May 4, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
David Theo Goldberg is the Director of the University of California Humanities Research Institute and former Director and Professor of the School of Justice Studies at Arizona State University. Dr Goldberg discussed the recent events in contemporary European cities, especially around the figure of ‘the Muslim’.
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A Conversation with the Elders of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Women of the Downtown Eastside
Date: Tue. May 9, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Elders Reta Blind, Harriet Nahanee, Leona Reid, and Phillapa Ryan together with Selina Barton, Delano Gail Bowen, Carol Martin Skundaal talked about violence against Aboriginal women in Vancouver, and the work of the Downtown Eastside Cultural Centre.
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Rethinking Urban Citizenship
With: Engin F Isin
Date: Wed. May 17, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
Dr. Engin F. Isin, Canada Research Chair and Professor in the Division of Social Sciences at York University, discussed the venerable history of urban citizenship, drawing upon examples from Canada, Europe and America. Dr. Isin highlighted the difference between the rights of the city versus rights to the city and illustrated the importance of this difference for struggles over democratic citizenship in contemporary societies.
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Fear and Love in the City
With: UBC Learning Exchange
Date: Wed. May 24, 7:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson St.
An interactive and creative forum facilitated by the UBC Learning Exchange
This event introduced participants to a kaleidoscope of perspectives that reflect experiences of both fear and love within inner-city communities, including Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The event featured various forms of expression including photography, dialogue, writing, and participatory theatre.
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Rhythms of Urbanity: Mapping the Public Sphere Through Socio-Political Forces
Date: Thu. May 25, 7:00 pm
Location: Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby St
In conjunction with UBC’s Living the Global City and the 2006 World Urban Forum, the Vancouver Art Gallery hosted this discussion presented by the Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Centre A). The public sphere is rapidly being privatized and now reflects more on the movement of goods and capital than on the expression of individual rights. This public discussion among artists Kate Armstrong, Bobbi Kozinuk, M. Simon Levin, Laurie Long, Leonard Paul, Manuel Piña, Jean Routhier, and curator Alice Ming Wai Jim spoke to “container culture” and the social forces at play in in[ ]ex, their interactive, city-wide media art project launched in June at Centre A and the World Urban Forum. See June 16th below for more information and sponsors.
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Cities Under Siege: Urbanism And The “War On Terror” With Stephen Graham
Date: Tue. May 30, 3:30 pm
Location: UBC Green College Coach House, 6201 Cecil Green Park Rd.
Dr. Stephen Graham, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Durham, is a distinguished scholar who is has received awards from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the British Academy, and the United Nations. Dr. Graham discussed how culture, creativity, and civilization, urbanism is now being redefined by the War on Terror. What are the alternatives to an urbanism shaped by the War on (and of) Terror?
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Security and Anxiety in the City
Panel Discussion With: Stephen Graham, John Richardson and Walter McKay
Date: Wed. May 31, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Convener Elvin Wyly, Associate Professor at the UBC Department of Geography, was joined by Stephen Graham, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Durham; John Richardson, Executive Director of Pivot Legal Society; and Walter McKay, Senior Policing Specialist at the Police Assessment Resource Centre in Los Angeles to discuss issues of safety in our cities. "Safety" and "security" are heard frequently in public debates on urban life, and people routinely cite these elusive goals as top priorities for public policy.
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The Inclusive City and Postmodern Urbanism
With: Michael Keith
Date: Tue. Jun. 6, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square C150/180, 800 Robson St.
Dr. Michael Keith is a professor at the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths at the University of London and former Leader of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Dr. Keith considered how the politics of urbanism is reconfigured by the massive growth of global cities. The lecture focussed on London but addressed the manner in which an understanding of patterns of contemporary multiculturalism and racism in cities across the world demands a slightly different consideration of both time and space in the contemporary metropolis. If we are to promote an inclusive city we need to understand how globalisation impacts local governance, politics and rationalisation.
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Living Room
Panel Discussion With: Muggs Sigurgeirson, Jeff Sommers, and Ethel Whitty
Date: Mon. Jun. 12, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Location: Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
Gentrification is one of the marks of global cities and it has consequences not only for living spaces but also for public spaces. This panel considered the ways that community groups and residents in the Downtown Eastside have interacted in the past forty years with government and other actors to create inclusive public spaces. It sought to answer the question: Can the inclusive public spaces that have been shaped for and by an impoverished community be maintained in the face of the eastward movement of condominium development and increasing numbers of homeowners?
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With Achille Mbembe (CANCELLED)
With: Achille Mbembe
Date: Mon. Jun. 12, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Dr. Achille Mbembe was unable to be in Vancouver due to unforeseen circumstances.
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The Indigenous City
Multimedia Panel With: Debra Sparrow, Kamala Todd, and Jeff Thomas
Date: Wed. Jun. 21, 6:00 pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson St.
Archived Podcast is availabe
Co-sponsored by the Aboriginal Media Lab. In celebration of National Aboriginal Day join Musqueam artist and storyteller Debra Sparrow, Aboriginal social planner and film maker Kamala Todd, and urban-Iroquois photographer Jeff Thomas for a multimedia event that affirmed that the Canadian city is an Indigenous City. As these leaders and artists illustrate, Aboriginal people offer much knowledge about how to live well on the land and with each other. Can our cities be transformed by the full recognition and inclusion of Aboriginal people in planning and place making?
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Container Culture: In[ ]Ex: Vancouver
Date: Fri. Jun. 16 to Sat. Jul. 1
Exhibition Venue I: Centre A, 2 West Hastings St. Opening on June 16, 8pm
Exhibition Venue II: World Urban Festival, June 21-25, Great Northern Way Campus, 11am-midnight
This was a presentation by Centre A in conjunction with UBC’s Living the Global City and the World Urban Festival during the 2006 UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum. Two-venue exhibition by artists Kate Armstrong, Bobbi Kozinuk, M. Simon Levin, Laurie Long, Leonard Paul, Manuel Piña, and Jean Routhier, curated by Alice Ming Wai Jim, explored the migration of capital, goods, and people through the ports and city spaces of Vancouver using mobile technologies that engage the public as active agents. in[ ]ex is a distributed audio sculpture in which 5000 wooden blocks embedded with radio tags were released into the city. The tag in each block sent a signal that was picked up and mixed, forming a sound environment in the space of a shipping container. This project was sponsored by the Canada Council, the British Columbia Arts Council, the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Province of British Columbia through the Spirit of BC Arts Fund.
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