Symposium 2018

Urban Innovation Symposium

Chicago's leading planners—in one room.
UPPSA's annual Urban Innovation Symposium showcases planning knowledge from across the Chicago region. During a daytime session, professionals from around the region provide insight into cutting-edge ideas in physical planning, design, housing, and economic development. At the evening event, urban professionals deliver presentations in more casual format, and an informal atmosphere encourages attendees to get to know each other and network while enjoying food and drink. Free and open to the public.

8th Annual Urban Innovation Symposium

Planning through Friction: Finding common ground in contested spaces

The 2018 Urban Innovation Symposium, “Planning Through Friction: Finding Common Ground in Contested Spaces,” will respond to the current atmosphere of protest and political unrest. In this response, “innovation” requires justice and inclusion throughout every realm of planning. The symposium will present physical and conceptual spaces that evoke conflict, and engage with participants of varying viewpoints and backgrounds to find pathways to shared common ground. Prevailing perspectives are afforded equal footing to present, understand, and critique. Attendees will have an opportunity to explore perspectives different from their own and come away from the event with a renewed energy for conversation and collaboration.

Event details:

February 9th

Day session - 12pm at UIC Student Center East

Evening session - 5:30pm at National Museum of Mexican Art

This event is free to the public.

Questions? Contact Kalindi Parikh at kparik25@uic.edu

Program:

Student Center East: Room 302

12:00-12:30pm - Networking and light refreshments

12:30-1:15pm - Keynote - Christy Coleman: CEO, The American Civil War Museum
How Should We Remember: Monuments in Public Spaces

1:15-2:00pm - Weathering The Storm
Envisioning the Chicago of 2100 and how the city can mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

2:00-2:15pm - Coffee Break

2:15-3:00pm - Creating better agreements
Exploring the process and purpose of community benefits agreements through the experiences of planners, activists, and community developers from across Chicago and the U.S.

National Museum of Mexican Art

5:30-6:00pm - Bites and drinks

6:00-7:00pm - Who is welcome in public space?
A multifaceted discussion on what it means for a space to be public and how marginalized groups can come to be excluded from this understanding of "the public".

7:10-7:55pm - Role of data
"Big Data" and algorithms have a more important role in planning than ever before. Speakers from a diversity of professional backgrounds will discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by data driven planning.

8:05-8:50 - Transit oriented dilemmas
Planners, developers and activists will debate how effectively the city's practice around transit oriented developments is promoting sustainability, democracy, and equity for Chicago.