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From February 27 to March 1, the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design will host a three-day symposium exploring the role of empirical urbanism in modern society.
Explaining that a new form of empirical urbanism has emerged in the past two generations due to advances in statistical analysis and an emphasis on urban design, 'After Empirical Urbanism' will examine the biases and philosophical assumptions that exist within the practice of observation in order to find a way to transfer objective knowledge about cities to planning and design.
Recognizing that empirical data is becoming a more important tool in addressing cultural, economic and environmental challenges, the symposium will also address how analyzing our characterizations of the past and present may help urbanism in the future. Hoping to outline new approaches to seeing and designing cities, the event will include five separate panels, each tackling a different subject from 'The Bias of Data' to 'The Use and Misuse of History'. Guest speakers Alexander Eisenschmidt and Graeme Stewart will close out the event on Monday accompanied by student presentations.
Other distinguished guest speakers include Jill Desimini from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Mona El Khafif from the University of Waterloo, Robert Bruegmann from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Alex Lehnerer from Zurich's Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule and the Daniels Faculty's very own George Baird.
The symposium begins with 'Carto Graphics' Friday at 1:30 pm. Noting that the intricacies of mapping, including the seemingly inoffensive placement of colours and other information, can actually persuade the viewer into thinking a certain way, the panel will explore the methods, techniques and possible shortcomings in visualizing urban data. The symposium takes place in Room 103 at 230 College Street. No registration is required and the panel is free of charge.
For more information about the event, visit the official website.
