The 3rd City conference sessions and themes
The 3rd City Festival will explore the dimensions of future urbanisation, speculating on the role of design in the creation of future urban forms and systems. Over two days, sessions will explore the vast scale of resource and ecosystem management, large-scale next generation infrastructure and the scalable roles of community in shaping 3rd City life. The final session of the conference will synthesise the preceding sessions, with a focus on positioning the role of the landscape architect in the making of the future city.
Session One: 3rd City Ecosystems
International speakers: Pierre Bélanger, Nina-Marie Lister
Key questions: What resources are required to build the city of tomorrow? How will humans relate to the natural world in the future metropolis?
Key Themes: Broad scale landscape and urban changes in relation to shifting human/nature relationships, new ecologies, the role of design in relation to ecology, cities and resource management, urban ecosystem health, environmental justice.
Session Two: 3rd City Infrastructures
International speaker: Hillary Brown
Key questions: What large and catalytic infrastructures will service the next great city? How can these infrastructural systems be smarter and more multi-dimensional in terms of sustaining the 3rd City?
Key Themes: Large scale urban change in relation to hybrid infrastructure systems, megaprojects, next generation infrastructure, and the agency of landscape systems.
Session Three: 3rd City Communities
International speakers: Jeff Hou, Jan Van der Grift
Key questions: Will the future city be designed and governed more by its citizens? Who has the right to the city? How will this change in the 3rd City?
Key Themes: Social systems and practices in relation to 3rd City spaces, inclusive urbanism, co-design, participatory design, and social equity.
Session Four: 3rd City Practice
International speaker: Mia Lehrer
Key questions: How can city building prioritise design as a critical and positive dimension of urbanisation? What are the benefits of design-led planning? What are the roles for landscape architects in the future city?
Key Themes: Design-led city making across scales, innovation in design practice, the role of urban theory in imagining and building the 3rd City; design research and evidence-based design as drivers of 3rd City practice.