Cambridge Talks IV: Design Politics will explore political issues by situating ethics, identity and inequality prominently in a discussion of design as a cultural practice

Cambridge Talks Description: Cambridge Talks is an annual symposium organized by the Harvard PhD Program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning. Drawing scholars from a diverse range of fields, Cambridge Talks is the premier public event that reinforces the interdisciplinarity that is central to the PhD Program's faculty and student research. This year we'll take on 'Design Politics' to consider how design practices and the built environment are engaged in political conflicts. Cambridge Talks IV: Design Politics will explore political issues by situating ethics, identity and inequality prominently in a discussion of design as a cultural practice. An interdisciplinary exchange will contribute to the following explorations: What makes design political? How is political agency constructed through the built environment? How are cultural, professional, and institutional identities registered in design processes and projects? Can techniques of representation mobilize the built environment in service of political activism? The research presented at the symposium will offer theoretical and comparative perspectives on the myriad means by which design is political, and politics is designed. Cambridge Talks IV Symposium Agenda:  

April 16, 2010

6:30 pmOpening Remarks
Prof. Antoine Picon (PhD Program Co-Director, GSD)

 7 pm

Keynote Address
Daniel Bertrand Monk(George R. & Myra T. Cooley Chair in Peace & Conflict Studies, Dept. of Geography, Colgate University)

The Intractability Lobby: Contentious Politics and Epistemological Conventionalism in Interpretations of Frank Gehry's 'Museum of Tolerance' in Jerusalem

Co-sponsored by The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs

8 pm

Roundtable Discussion
Moderator: K. Michael Hays
(PhD Program Co-Director, GSD)

Discussants:Mohsen Mostafavi (Dean, Havard GSD)Sheila Jasanoff (Science & Technology Studies, Harvard)Lawrence Vale (Urban Studies & Planning, MIT)Nasser Rabat (Architecture History, MIT)

9 pm

Closing Remarks, Conference Organizers

April 17, 2010

10 amOpening RemarksK. Michael Hays (PhD Program Co-Director, GSD)

10:30 am

Morning Panel'Reformations of Design Expertise'

Presenters:Kate Holliday (Architecture History, Univ. of Texas)Amy Slaton (History & Politics, Drexel Univ.)Panayiota Pyla (Urban History, Univ. of Cyprus) Respondents:David Lee (Design Studies, Harvard GSD)Antoine Picon (History of Architecture & Science, Harvard) 2:30 pm

Afternoon Panel'Political Spaces: Re-Vision, Re-Use, Redress' Presenters:Virag Molnar (Urban Sociology, New School)Rafi Segal (Design Studies, Harvard GSD)Ajantha Subramanian (Anthropology, Harvard) Respondents:Timothy Hyde (Architecture History, Harvard GSD)Thomas Ponniah (Social Studies, Harvard)
5:30 pm

Closing Remarks, Conference Organizers