The Integrated School of Building’s 1st Annual Symposium:
THE INTEGRATED FABRIC OF THE CITY

Only 60 years ago, 30 percent of the world’s population resided in cities. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in one, and it is expected that 70 percent of the world population will be urban by 2050.

While we might claim to know what a city is, there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town or metropolitan area (only 8 percent of Americans live in cities of 1 million or more.) How, for example, does the fabric of a city differ from that of megacities, cities with a population of 10 million or more residents? What makes the city a city? What makes the city a healthy, green and wealthy – culturally and economically – place to live? What are the forces – top-down and bottom-up, now and in the future – that are shaping our cities? What makes it function – arguably humanity’s greatest invention – the city? And why is this important? How can we rebuild – and, where threadbare and worn, reweave – our cities?

These are some of the questions that will be explored in The Integrated School of Building’s 1st Annual Summer Symposium . . . Read more