Session 1: Urban Advances: The Reality and The Virtual

As our population and our cities expand exponentially, urbanization is both an outcome and a solution for our future cities. In this keynote, Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, Design Partners at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), discuss how appropriate design and city planning can effectively reduce negative urban environmental impacts, while simultaneously improving the overall quality of life for the residents of a city. What are the foundations of sustainable design for today’s cities and what do the visions for our future cities look like? Adrian and Gordon demonstrate why innovative and purposeful performance-based design is needed—exploring these ideals through a range of scales and typological diversity to show how a comprehensive design process influences AS+GG’s work.

Past, present, and future AS+GG projects exemplify how design can reduce the major issues facing all cities, including crime, homelessness, and lack of education. The appropriate use of technology can reduce crime and improve our urban circumstances with techniques, tools, and activities that integrate city data into existing and/or future design projects (Kingston Community Center + Police HQ). Additionally, one of AS+GG’s pro bono R+D efforts has spawned an innovative plan that pushes a city to adapt a new set of environmental standards (Chicago Decarbonization Plan), and another has created enterprise zones that offer real economic solutions (South Bend Renaissance District).