Event Details — De Lange Conference VII (2009): Transforming the Metropolis: Creating Sustainable and Humane Cities

In March 2009, Rice University will hold the seventh meeting of the De Lange Conference, an every-other-year event funded by the De Lange Endowment. This spring’s conference will explore the subject of creating sustainable cities for the world’s rapidly growing urban populations. Titled “Transforming the Metropolis: Creating Sustainable and Humane Cities,” the De Lange Conference VII asks that speakers engage in dialogue over the questions “What does our urban future promise?” and “How can urbanization provide answers to the ecological, social, and economic issues of the 21st century?.” World experts from a wide range of fields will explore challenges to and possibilities for urban transformation in areas such as globalization, governing, education, sustainable architecture, engineering, transportation, smart urban planning, climate change, and faith-based community building.

The conference series was initiated in order to create a forum for leading thinkers and practitioners to come together on the Rice campus and address topics “of great concern to society.” Subjects for previous De Lange Conferences have ranged widely, addressing current issues in human environmental impacts, neurobiology, sustainable development, and information technology, among others.

This year's conference will include a panel discussion with three city mayors - Antanas Mockus, former mayor of Bogota Colombia, Mustafa Syed Kamal, Mayor of Karachi, Pakistan, and Shuki Forer, Mayor of the City of Rehovot, Israel - who will talk about innovative solutions that made their cities more livable. Houston's Mayor Bill White will introduce the mayoral panel.

Cameron Sinclair, co-founder and executive director of Architecture for Humanity and co-editor of the book Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, will deliver the keynote speech on Tuesday morning.

The De Lange Conference VII will be organized and hosted by the Rice University Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life, Scientia Institute, the Center for the Study of Environment and Society, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Architecture and the Rice Design Alliance, the Department of Sociology, the James A. Baker, III Institute for Public Policy, and the University of Houston College of Architecture.

David Crossley of Houston Tomorrow will be one of the conference speakers.

Registration and program information are available through the De Lange Conference VII web site. Exclusive of conference receptions/dinners, students with a current student ID register for free.

March 2-4, 2009
Alice Pratt Brown Auditorium
Shepherd School
Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX