Looking Forward/Looking Back (2019 Design Matters Conference)

Organization: 
Emmanuel Pratt, Sweet Water Foundation; Damon Rich, Hector Design Service; Sarah Herda (moderator), Graham Foundation

This session is a conversation with two urban designers from our field—Damon Rich and Emmanuel Pratt—both of whom have invented energizing forms of public engagement that have earned them the title MacArthur Genius. Together with Graham Foundation director Sarah Herda we examined how public engagement and community design had evolved over the past ten years and discuss what is needed to keep us growing into the future. Through their ranging experiences, we considered the varied career paths now open to those committed to advancing architecture, urbanism, and culture.

Damon Rich, a featured speaker at our very first AAO conference, founded the trail-blazing Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) that set the standard for inventive visual communications in our field. From there, Damon has never looked back, moving on to a role as chief planner for the City of Newark, and, most recently, establishing the independent design studio Hector (with partner Jae Shin) that continues to imagine new ways forward for building community. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Pratt has brought forth a holistic vision for urban regeneration that touches all ages and walks of life in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood through the creation of the Sweet Water Foundation. His comprehensive approach to community development is informing the work of organizations in other urban neighborhoods around the world.

Category: 
Other
Posted by Mary.Fichtner on November 21, 2019 - 10:32am