This lecture by Alfredo Brillembourg will explore the work of ETH Zurich Urban-Think Tank (U-TT), an interdisciplinary design practice dedicated to high-level research and design on a variety of subjects concerned with contemporary architecture and urbanism. U-TT was co-founded by Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner, who previously co-taught at Columbia University in New York before joining U-TT in 2010. U-TT has been awarded the Ralph Erskine Award, the Holcim Gold Award for innovative contributions to ecological and social design practices, and the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture Golden Lion.

NYU Urban Seminar Series: Equity, Design, and Climate Change

Cities today are growing quickly. The UN projects that continuing population growth and urbanization will add 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban centers by 2050. Even as our cities expand, unprecedented climate events flood our urban spaces, redraw shorelines, and devastate infrastructure. In the face of these twinned challenges of rapid growth and climate change, how do we design our cities so that they are inclusive, and remain centers of economic growth and creative dynamism that integrate new arrivals, while at the same time becoming more resilient to climate change? How do we ensure that our design approaches promote equity in our cities, and address climate change impacts that are most often felt by the economically vulnerable populations and areas of our cities? How do we create a design process that is inclusive, represents the needs of different urban constituencies, and draws on the creativity of all residents as we address emergent climate shifts? The 2018 NYU Urban Seminar Series will include urban planners, designers, researchers, practitioners, and artists whose work explores the intersection of equity, design, and climate change.