Symposiums | Urban Ecologies 2013, Toronto ı Strange Utility, Portland

First a great news that I will confirm in the following weeks including an article for a magazine on architectural future practices, the architect's shifting role, etc… I'll confirm it when it will be printed (and in our local bookstore, the most important part for any editor who works hard on his/her project).

Now,
A call for proposals for Urban Ecologies 2013, Toronto, Canada. This is for a 2-day conference in June: June 20-21, 2013. The aim is to discuss the impact of five intersecting themes that are shaping the future of design in our cities.
Urban Ecologies is organized by OCAD University, Toronto, Canada. The themes are:

1. Visualizing information: Using advanced visual strategies to improve our understanding of data-intensive human and non-human urban activity;
2. Regenerating cities: Developing regenerative urban design strategies to create restorative relationships between cities and their surrounding environments;
3. Building Health: Bringing integrated concepts of human health, quality of life and inclusion to the design of the urban environment;
4. Creating Community: Fostering design partnerships between grassroots and professional communities to co-create sustainable urban places;
5. Thinking Systems: Applying knowledge of the urban environment's complex and dynamic patterns of exchange to design stronger communities.

Note that the deadline is February 8, 2013. You can download the call for proposals (with further information, presentation abstract proposals, workshop proposals, registration and fees).

Then,
If you are in Portland, Oregon the 26 and 27 of April, at Portland State University, this symposium titled: Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends:

The discipline of architecture has always been linked to the idea of utility — albeit in a variety of ways and to different degrees. From architecture's putative origins as a primitive form of shelter made of foliage to the Modernist dictum that form follows function, architecture, from the beginning, has been required to perform a "useful" function. Not Surprisingly, utility remains a central concern within contemporary architectural practice, but alongside some of the obvious benefits — the development of more energy efficient materials and processes and the economic incentive to redevelop existing buildings before building anew — have come some strange, if understudied effects. With contributions from 14 extraordinary scholars and architects, Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends recognizes the contemporary currency of utility, and seeks unexpected ways of defining this term within and with respect to the built environment.

Participants are Jimenez Lai (Bureau Spectacular), Philippe Rahm (Philippe Rahm Architects, Paris, France) and Jill Stoner (University of California, Berkeley).

More on registration, location: here.