Displacement_Water

Please join us for a special Global Dialogues conversation hosted jointly with the Columbia GSAPP Urban Design Program and AIA-NY, examining the role of water in the future design of global cities including Rio de Janeiro, Kolkata, Amman, Accra, and New York.

Water in its scarcity, abundance, and quality is becoming an increasingly powerful force in determining the health and viability of global cities, challenging their infrastructure and influencing the future shape of social life and built form. While in New York centralized infrastructural adaptations have begun to address storm surge and reliable sources of drinking water, other cities internationally face hydrological extremes with comparatively fewer resources and a need for bottom-up and localized solutions: for example Kolkata in eastern India faces flooding during monsoon seasons and sea level rise, while Amman, Jordan is confronted by drought and dependency. These two cities, the sites of the Columbia Urban Design program’s current studio investigations, are discussed alongside other global cities to reveal potential of a social and ecologically driven approach to climate adaptation.

Panelists

DK Osseo-Asare, Founding Principal of Low Design Office, Co-founder AMP, TEDGlobal Fellow, and design lecturer at Ashesi University (ACCRA)

Dilip da Cunha, Adjunct Associate Professor, Columbia GSAPP, and co-author, Design in the Terrain of Water (KOLKATA)

Guilherme Lassance, Associate Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Columbia GSAPP (RIO)

Nora Akawi, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia GSAPP, and Director, Studio-X Amman (AMMAN)

Geeta Mehta, Adjunct Professor, Columbia GSAPP (MADURAI)

Moderated by Kate Orff, Associate Professor & Director, Columbia GSAPP Urban Design Program, Founder, SCAPE, and author, Petrochemical America

Co-Organized by Columbia GSAPP Urban Design Program and AIA-NY.