Keynote: David Vega-Barachowitz (WXY Architecture + Urban Design) - Future Proofing Design: Five Models for the Future of City Building

Transportation technologies are rapidly changing how cities operate on a day-to-day basis, transforming how we move, buy and receive goods, and interact with our peers and neighbors. As the traditional function of cities as places of information and goods exchange has shifted from the physical to the digital sphere, our conventional processes for projecting and anticipating future change have failed to keep pace. Increasingly, cities are victimized by past ideas of the future, rather than in a position to project positive, progressive change. This plenary explores the idea of future-proofing design in the context of city-building and strives to unpack what it means to be projective and visionary in a design context today. The plenary considers five models for the future of the city: the Unzoned Downtown; the City-burb; the Multifunctional Highway; the Park Street; and the Electric Hub, contemplating how projective ideals of city form and quality of life can reshape how we envision the future of cities and mobility.

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