Spring 2024 Lectures Series Opens January 18

The Weitzman Spring 2024 Lecture Series brings together built environment professionals, artists, historians, scientists, and legal scholars to discuss the ways in which art and design can advance social and environmental justice.

The series will explore how the preservation field has evolved—and the latest calls for change—in the decades since it was formally established; grassroots efforts to redevelop architecturally significant but economically obsolete places in the Rust Belt; the scholarship behind a new online gallery featuring Ed Ruscha’s landmark photography series documenting Sunset Boulevard; and the potential role for AI in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The series begins with talks by the new chairs of Weitzman’s Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Rossana Hu and Catherine Seavitt.

Among the scheduled speakers:

Adrian Scott Fine, President and CEO, Los Angeles Conservancy
Tapio Schneider, NASA scientist
Lucas ter Hall, Co-Founder, Studio RAP
Paul Pfeiffer, Artist and Keith L. and Katherine S. Sachs Visiting Professor

Admission is free and open to the public for most events. Unless noted otherwise, lectures take place at Meyerson Hall, 210 South 34th Street, Philadelphia.

Visitors who require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, are advised to email news@design.upenn.edu at least 5 business days in advance.

Because information is subject to change, visitors are advised to consult www.design.upenn.edu/calendar to confirm program details.

Select lectures are eligible for continuing education credit. Contact the presenting department or center for more information.

Thursday, January 18, 6:00pm
Where I Stand
Catherine Seavitt, Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture; Martin and Margy Meyerson Chair of Urbanism; Co-Executive Director, The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism & Ecology
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Wednesday, January 24, 6:30pm
etc.
Rossana Hu, Miller Professor and Chair of Architecture; Co-Founder, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, January 25, 12:00pm
Preservation Futures: History
Francesca Russello Ammon, Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning and Historic Preservation
Sarah Lopez, Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning and Historic Preservation
Aaron Wunsch, Associate Professor of Historic Preservation
Jared Farmer, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History
Elihu Rubin, Associate Professor of Architecture, Yale University
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Department of Historic Preservation

Thursday, January 25, 6:00pm
From Community Engagement to Collective Power
Janette Kim, Associate Professor of Architecture, California College of the Arts; Co-Director, Urban Works Agency; Founding Principal, All of the Above
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Friday, January 26, 5:00pm
LA+ Beauty Launch Event
Karen M’Closkey, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture; Editor in Chief, LA+ Journal
Catherine Seavitt, Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture; Martin and Margy Meyerson Chair of Urbanism; Co-Executive Director, The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism & Ecology; Creative Director, LA+ Journal
Presented by LA+ Journal and the Department of Landscape Architecture

Wednesday, January 31, 12:00pm
Paternalistic Artificial Intelligence: The Case of Climate Change
Cass Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Wednesday, January 31, 6:30pm
Emotional Heritage
Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats, Flores & Prats Architects
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, February 1, 6:00pm
Postindustrial DIY: Book Talk and Panel Discussion
Daniel Campo (PhD’04), Author; Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning, Morgan State University
Eugénie Birch, Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research & Education; Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research
Catherine Seavitt, Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture
Fritz Steiner, Dean and Paley Professor
Presented by the Penn Institute for Urban Research and The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism & Ecology

Wednesday, February 7, 6:30pm
The City as a Technical Being: On the Mode of Existence in Architecture
Peter Trummer, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Innsbruck
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, February 8, 6:00pm
Paul Pfeiffer, Keith L. and Katherine S. Sachs Visiting Professor
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Thursday, February 15, 12:00pm
Repurposed Energy
Alexandra Klass, James G. Degnan Professor of Law and Co-Director, Environmental and Energy Law Program, University of Michigan Law School
Gittis Hall 213, 3501 Sansom Street
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Tuesday, February 27, 12:00pm
AI-Accelerated Assessments of Climate and Weather Risks
Tapio Schneider, Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist, California Institute of Technology
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Thursday, February 29, 12:00pm
Preservation Futures: Design
David Hollenberg, Adjunct Professor of Historic Preservation
Dominique Hawkins (BA’88, MArch’92, MSHP’92), Founder, Preservation Design Partnership
Stephen Kieran, Partner, KieranTimberlake
Patricia O’Donnell, Founder, Heritage Landscapes LLC
Nathaniel Rogers (MArch’11, MSHP’11), Lecturer in Historic Preservation
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Department of Historic Preservation

Thursday, February 29, 7:00pm
Newtown Odyssey
Marie Lorenz, Artist
Willis Elkins, Executive Director, Newtown Creek Alliance
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Thursday, February 29, 6:0pm
Jessica Vaughn (MFA’11)
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Monday, March 11 – Friday, March 15
Energy Week at Penn
Various locations
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Monday, March 11, 6:00pm
Launching Sunset Over Sunset: Seeing Urban History through the Lens of Ed Ruscha
Francesca Russello Ammon, Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning and Historic Preservation
Brian Goldstein, Associate Professor of Art History, Swarthmore College
Garrett Dash Nelson, President and Head Curator, Leventhal Map & Education Center, Boston Public Library
Rob Nelson, Director, Digital Scholarship Lab, University of Richmond
Mark Padoongpatt, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Virtual event
Presented by the Departments of Historic Preservation and City & Regional Planning

Wednesday, March 13, 6:30pm
The Cunningham Lecture
Lucas ter Hall, Co-Founder, Studio RAP
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, March 14, 6:00pm
Tools for Designers in Changing Climates and Uncertain Futures
Jamie Vanucchi, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Cornell University
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Wednesday, March 20, 6:30pm
Architectures of the Technopolis: Archigram and the British High Tech
Annette Fierro, Associate Professor of Architecture
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, March 21, 12:00pm
Preservation Futures: Science
Frank Matero, Gonick Family Professor and Chair of Historic Preservation
Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Architectural Conservator; former Associate Director of the Getty Conservation Institute
Heather Viles, Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation, Oxford University
George Wheeler, Lecturer in Historic Preservation
Presented by the Department of Historic Preservation

Thursday, March 21, 6:00pm
Leveling the Field: Combining Proprietary Micro-Level Data with Machine Learning Methods for Housing Justice Research
Esteban López Ochoa, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Texas at San Antonio
Presented by the Urban Spatial Analytics Program

Tuesday, March 26, 12:00pm
AI and Climate Misinformation
Asheley Landrum, Associate Professor, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Wednesday, March 27, 6:30pm
Marcello Galiotto and Alessandra Rampazzo, Co-Founders, AMAA
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, March 28, 6:00pm
Caribbean Infrastructural Landscapes for Climate Change
José Juan Terrasa-Soler, Partner, Marvel
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Wednesday, April 3, 6:30pm
The Jeffrey Fine (C’76, MArch’78) and Andrea Katz Lecture
Preston Scott Cohen, Founder, Preston Scott Cohen, Inc.
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, April 4, 12:00pm
Preservation Meeting the Moment: Are We Ready?
Adrian Scott Fine, President and CEO, Los Angeles Conservancy
Presented by the Department of Historic Preservation

Thursday, April 4, 12:00pm
Policy Lecture
Stefan Ambec, Research Faculty, Toulouse School of Economics
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Wednesday, April 10, 6:30pm
The EwingCole Lecture
Mark Lee, Founder, Johnston Marklee
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, April 11, 6:00pm
Moyra Davey
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Thursday, April 18, 6:00pm
McHarg Fellow Lecture
Emma Mendel, 2023-2024 McHarg Center Fellow
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Thursday, April 18, 6:00pm
Kameelah Janan Rasheed
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Tuesday, April 23, 12:00pm
Policy Lecture
Severin Borenstein, E.T. Grether Chair in Business Administration and Public Policy and Faculty Director, Energy Institute, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy