(Un)Anticipated Futures is an international Symposium bringing together research from three universities – Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, The New School in New York, and University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. This international collaboration brings together historians, social researchers, and designers in a context of unprecedented economic and ecological uncertainty.  As financial crisis and environmental disasters appear around the globe, cross-disciplinary and international approaches are urgently needed to address design and development in urban landscapes increasingly in flux.

The Symposium is part of a four-day workshop, from 16-19 February 2012. The first day will consist of fieldwork in development sites throughout metropolitan Bangkok. The Thai-Ministry of Foreign Relations, expanding on the Thai-US Creative Partnership Seminar for Green Building and Design held at the Ministry in September of 2011, will be co-hosting the second day of the symposium, which will be open to the public. On the third and fourth days, a workshop with visiting academics, faculty, and students from the International Program in Design and Architecture (INDA) at Chulalongkorn University will take place. This symposium is the first of three collaborative events within the Design and Social Development Program which will be held in Buenos Aires and New York in 2013.

Through the analysis of similarities and differences across cities from different disciplinary perspectives, the Design and Social Development Program focuses not primarily on the disciplines themselves but rather on how to build a common language. The program works at the intersection of design and social science in an effort to identify innovative ways of interpreting urban phenomena,

 

Contributors:

History

BKK: Pirasri Poyatong, Professor, Chulalongkorn University
BsAs: Adriana Clemente, Vice Dean of the School of Social Science (FCS), University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Margarita Gutman, Professor, School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism (FADU), UBA & Associate Professor, The New School; Ileana Versace, Assistant Professor, FADU, UBA; with the collaboration of Martín Gromez, and Lucila Pugni Reta
NYC: Bill Morrish, Dean of the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School for Design

Social Science

BKK: Amorn Wanichwiwata, Professor, Chulalongkorn University
BsAs: Carolina Mera Sociology, Professor and Director of Research of School of Social Science, FCS, UBA; Mónica Lacarrieu, Professor of Anthropology, FCS, UBA
NYC: Vyjayanthi Rao, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research

Design

BKK: Professor Danai Thaitakoo, Professor, Chulalongkorn University
BsAs: Javier Fernández Castro, Professor and Architect, FADU, UBA; Juan Pablo Scaglia, Associate Professor and Architect, FADU, UBA; Pedro Senar, Assistant Professor and Industrial Designer, FADU, UBA; and Ariel Misuraca, Professor, Architect, FADU, UBA
NYC: Aaron Koch, NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Sustainability and Planning: Policy Adviser on Water and Infrastructure
Chairs and Commentators
Bob Buckley, Fellow, Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School
Michael Cohen, Director of The Observatory on Latin America, Directory of the Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School
Mandy Goodgoll, Coordinator, The Observatory on Latin America
Brian McGrath, Research Chair in Urban Design at Parsons and the founder and principal of Urban-Interface, LLC
Ariel Misuraca, Professor, Architect, and Secretary General of FADU, UBA

For more information, please contact:
INDA (International Program in Design and Architecture) Tel: 02-218-4330-1
Contact: Dr.Kanwipa Methanuntakul or Pannasarn Sombuntham