Tomorrow: SAP: Hinterland Urbanisms Symposium

This symposium looks at the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) as a point of departure for an ample discussion regarding the diverse models of urbanism that emerge at the intersection of resource extraction and regional integration projects (primarily through mobility corridors).

Initiated by former Brazilian president Fernando Enrique Cardoso in 2000 and rapidly endorsed by the eleven other South American nations, IIRSA—a comprehensive energy, transport, and communications network —is the most aggressive transcontinental integration project ever planned for South America. Through the systematic deployment of ten east-west infrastructural corridors, the initiative is sidelining the Americas’ time-honored north-south axis—exemplified by the Pan-American Highway—to provide Brazil, which occupies almost 50% of South America’s surface, access to ports along the Pacific and to give its flourishing economy stronger trading ties with Asia, while providing means of entering to remote regions that have untapped surface and subsurface natural resources. With a projected investment surpassing US$83 billion in June 2010, a total projected investment of $96 billion, and an expansive portfolio of projects (10% are completed, and over 33% are under construction), the scope and ambition of IIRSA is having an unprecedented effect in reconfiguring the urban and rural dynamics of the South American hinterland.

The ultimate objective of the symposium is to shed light on alternative physical, operative and experiential identities
for the South American hinterland and search for models of urbanization that go beyond purely utilitarian resource extraction and the deployment of mono-functional infrastructure, casting new light on well tempered models of urbanization that can spin off from such a vast continental undertaking.

Felipe Correa, Assistant Professor of Urban Design and Director, Urban Design Programs, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Ana Maria Durán Calisto, Loeb Fellow ‘11, Harvard Graduate School of Design; co-Principal Estudio A0

This event is free and open to the public. 

RSVP: events@gsd.harvard.edu

Format:

Participants in the conference will address 4 specific lines of research that are fundamental to the development of a conceptual framework for the region. Each topic will be discussed in a panel format.

Schedule:

Friday October 7th
Stubbins Room

Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138

3:00 PM
Welcome and opening remarks
Felipe Correa

3:30 PM
Panel 1
Hinterland

South American landscapes beyond national borders

Graciela Silvestri
Otavio Leonidio
Graciela Schneier

Moderated by Jorge Silvetti

6:00 PM
Key Note Address
Landscapes by Default / Landscapes by Design
Rodrigo Perez de Arce
Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall

Followed by a reception and HDM Issue 34 Magazine Event

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Saturday October 8th
Stubbins Room

Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138

10:00 AM
Panel 2
Extraction

Resource extraction processes, their affiliated territorial networks, and the diverse models of urbanization these processes have engendered

Eugenio Garcés
Martín Cobas
Angelo Bucci & Alexander Delijaicov

Moderated by Anita Berrizbeitia

12:15 Lunch

1:15 PM
Panel 3
Connectivity

Past, present and future scenarios of transcontinental mobility infrastructure and their effect on patterns of urbanization

Marcelo Danza
Gabriel Duarte
Santiago del Hierro

Moderated by Michael Hooper

4:00 PM
Panel 4
Projection

How the agency of design can better engage the national and international bureaucracies that direct these initiatives beyond the purely anecdotal and piecemeal structure permeating such vast undertakings

Camilo Restrepo
Solano Benítez
Luis Callejas & Mason White

Moderated by Eve Blau

6:30 PM
Round Table Discussion

Marcelo Danza, Alexandre Delijaikov, Flavio Janches, Felipe Mesa, Rodrigo Pérez de Arce & Graciela Silvestri


Moderated by Ana María Durán Calisto & Felipe Correa


Closing Remarks
Rahul Mehrotra

Reception and Network Launch

People:

Curated by

Felipe Correa. Somatic Collaborative / Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Ana María Durán Calisto, Loeb Fellow'11. Estudio A0 / Universidad Católica del Ecuador

Participants

Solano Benítez. Gabinete de Arquitectura / Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay
Anita Berrizbeitia. Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Eve Blau. Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Angelo Bucci. SPBR Arquitetos / Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Luis Callejas. Paisajes Emergentes / Colectivo Archipiélago, Colombia
Tomás Cervilla. Universidad Simón Bolivar, Venezuela
Martín Cobas. Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Marcelo Danza. Agencia-a / Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Alexandre Delijaicov. Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Gabriel Duarte. CAMPO aud / Design Critic Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Eugenio Garcés. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Pablo Gerson. Estudio X, Argentina
Santiago del Hierro. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Ecuador
Michael Hooper. Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Flavio Janches. A:BJ&C architects / Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rahul Mehrotra. Rahul Mehrotra Architects / Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Felipe Mesa. Plan: b Arquitectos / Colectivo Archipiélago / Pontificia Bolivariana de Medellín, Colombia
Víctor Muñoz Sanz. Sanz-Serif / Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Otavio Leonidio. Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rodrigo Pérez de Arce. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Camilo Restrepo. A.T.L.A.S / Colectivo Archipiélago / Pontificia Bolivariana de Medellín, Colombia
Florencia Rodríguez. Revista PLOT, Universidad de Palermo, Argentina
Graciela Schneier-Madanes. University of Arizona / CNRS, Paris, France
Graciela Silvestri. Universidad de La Plata / CONICET, Argentina
Jorge Silvetti. Machado and Silvetti Associates / Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Mason White. Lateral Office / University of Toronto