THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF ARCHITECTURE

TRANSNATIONAL DIALOGUES ON URBANISM SYMPOSIUM 2008
FLORENCE March 8, 2008
ISTITUTO DELGLI INNOCENTI,,

THIS EVENT IS ORGANIZED BY THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY IN FLORENCE, L’OSSERVATORIO SULL’ARCHITETTURA DELLA FONDAZIONE TARGETTI AND THE MAGAZINE ABITARE.
This is the third in a series of “Transnational Dialogues on Urbanism”. The intention of the Syracuse University Program in Florence with this series is to engage in active manner the
contemporary discourses and practices taking place in Europe and the world today
This year symposium “the political dimension of architecture" will focus on the relation between architecture and the city. Too obvious for some, overcome by history according to others, this relation remains at the center of the issue/ debate of the relationship between form and politics.
The symposium proposes to examine the case study of Medellin Colombia. A rather unique case one may argue where architecture and small-scale urban interventions have been the agents of major political and social transformation. Sergio Fajardo is the former major of the city will be one of our guest speakers in the symposium. Fajardo’s administration carefully constructed a social and political program where architecture was at the center as both an agent and a goal in what can only be described as a substantial social and cultural transformation of the city and in the process opened new possibilities for architecture.
Other guest speakers will include Prof Elia Zenghelis a world-renowned architect and theoretician, and also an influential teacher who in 2003 was awarded the RIBA medal of excellence for architecture education. His work has been deeply involved in a reflection on the relation between architecture and the city in the contemporary society. And Stefano Boeri director of the magazine Abitare, architect and researcher, author of several book on contemporary urban phenomena
These presentations will be followed by a round table discussion with the participation of architects urbanists, artist historians etc.