Invitation to the seminar
DESIGNING the PAST
Urban heritage and past ideals in contemporary
urban planning and design
One day seminar & debates on D e s i g n i n g t h e P a s t – Urban heritage and past ideals in
contemporary urban planning and design, featuring short talks and panel session by
distinguished theorists, writers, practitioners, and advocates, all carefully chosen to bring together
the right mix of personalities and disciplinary positions related to the topic at hand.
Gregory Ashworth
Elizabeth Moule
Randall Mason
20th of May 13:00-16:00
Room: Hörsalen, Geovetarcentrum,
Guldhedsgatan 5A-C, Gothenburg University
Spårvagnshållplats/Tram stop: Wavrinskys plats
The seminar is free of charge, but, please, let us know if you are planning to
participate: send an e-mail to [email protected]
This seminar will explore how urban heritage and past urban design ideals influence, and are
utilized, in contemporary urban planning and design. Urban heritage has become an important
measure in many urban branding and development strategies, aiming at attracting new
inhabitants, visitors and investors to the specific urban context. Moreover, past urban design
ideals are revisited and increasingly put forward as a solution for contemporary social, economic
and environmental problems, where modern planning and design is believed to have failed.
However, the use of past ideals and urban heritage is not a straightforward issue in practice; it is
contested in different ways from professionals and academics in various fields of expertise.
Photo
Industrial Landmark in London
Photo by Jonathan Reid Taken on
January 12, 2013, Used by Permission
Copyright All rights reserved
Photo
Trinity Church Reflected in the Hancock
Building Photo By Bee Gardener, Taken on
August 22, 2009, Used by Permission
Copyright All rights reserved
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Photo
Vintage car fest, Inner Harbor, Baltimore
Photo By Urvish Joshi, Taken on
October 1, 2012, Used by Permission
Copyright All rights reserved
Critics argue for example that the heritage management and urban planning and design of today
result in sameness of place and standardization of urban heritage between different urban
contexts. The seminar will dig into this debate about pros and cons on urban heritage and
traditional urban design vs. modern or post-modern urban planning and design.
The Designing the Past seminar will feature short talks and a moderated panel session, followed
by Q&A from the audience. Participants: Gregory Ashworth, Groningen University, Elisabeth Moule,
Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists and Randall Mason, University of Pennsylvania.
Moderator for the event is Krister Olsson, Gothenburg University. It will be taped and transcribed
into a book which is a part of the 3-Series Debates on Urbanism, ed. Tigran Haas, KTH.
Speakers and Panelists:
Gregory Ashworth Professor Emeritus Gregory Ashworth, connected with the University of
Groningen since 1979, is a world renowned researcher in his field of
expertise: management of cultural heritage, urban tourism, urban planning, city marketing and leisure management. In 1994 he was appointed
Professor of Heritage Management and Urban Tourism at the Faculty of
Spatial Sciences of the University of Groningen. Although he retired in
2006, he still is a keen ambassador for the Faculty, the University and the
city of Groningen. His many publications include Selling the city : marketing
approaches in public sector urban planning (w/H. Voogd), (1990), Dissonant
heritage: the management of the past as a resource in conflict (w/J.E. Tunbridge),
(1996), and Towards Effective Place Brand Management - Branding European
Cities and Regions (w/M. Kavaratzis, eds.) (2010).
Elizabeth Moule
Randall Mason
Elisabeth Moule’s career includes architecture, urbanism, real estate
development and education. She holds a M.Arch. from Princeton
University, a B.A. from Smith College in Art History and Government,
and attended the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. She is a
cofounder of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), and a founding
partner of Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists. Her experience
ranges from the design of educational, institutional, commercial and civic
buildings to historic rehabilitation, housing, campus planning and large
urban design projects. She recently coauthored the CNU’s Canons of
Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism, companion to the Charter of the New
Urbanism. She has been published in The Los Angeles Times, the New York
Times, Dwell and Residential Architect and has contributed articles to many
books and periodicals.
Randall Mason, Chair, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation,
Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning at the University of
Pennsylvania, PennDesign. Mason teaches in the Graduate Program in
Historic Preservation. He holds an Honorary Doctorate at the
Department of Conservation, Gothenburg University. Mason’s research
interests include theory and methods of preservation planning, cultural
policy, the economics of preservation, historic site management, the
history and design of memorials, and the history of historic preservation.
He leads the Center for Research on Preservation and Society. His books
include The Once and Future New York: Historic Preservation and the Modern
City (2009) and Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in
the United States (w/M. Page, eds.) (2004).
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Moderator:
Krister Olsson
Krister Olsson is the Associate Professor at the Department of
Conservation, Gothenburg University. He holds a doctoral degree in
regional planning from KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
His research has included both theoretical and empirical studies of urban
and regional development strategies and planning. It has in particular been
directed toward heritage management, urban planning and design and
place marketing. Between 2011 and 2014 he has been working at the
National Heritage Board in Sweden. His latest publications is Emergent
Urbanism: Urban Planning & Design in Times of Structural and Systemic Change.
(w/T. Haas, eds.) (2014).
Three Urbanism Series Responsible:
Tigran Haas
Tigran Haas is the Associate Professor of Urban Planning + Urban Design
and the Director of the Civitas Athenaeum Laboratory (CAL), Applied
Social Science Research Platform at the School of Architecture and the
Built Environment at KTH. Tigran Haas’ expertise, current research and
teaching focus on contemporary trends and paradigms in urban planning
& design, new urbanism, sustainable urbanism, social housing and urban
transformations, and city development and design. His key works are New
Urbanism & Beyond - Designing Cities for the Future (2008) and Sustainable
Urbanism & Beyond - Rethinking Cities for the Future (2012) His recent book is
Emergent Urbanism Urban Planning & Design in Times of Structural and Systemic
Change (w/K. Olsson, eds.) (2014).
curating
the
city
THIS EVENT IS KINDLY SPONSORED BY THE AX: SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION AND IS A PART
OF FUTURE OF PLACES SERIES OF EVENTS LEADING TO UN HABITAT III CONFERENCE
(PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UN HABITAT/PPS/AX: SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION). THIS EVENT
IS ALSO A PART OF CAL INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR AND DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS SERIES
AS WELL AS THE THIRD OF THREE SEMINARS/DEBATES/DISCUSSIONS ON CONTEMPORARY
URBANISMS. CO-PARTNER/HOST FOR THIS THIRD EVENT IS THE DEPARTMENT OF
CONSERVATION, AND CURATING THE CITY/CHS, GOTHENBURG UNIVERSITY, MISTRA
URBAN FUTURES, AND KTH – DEPARTMENT OF URBAN PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT.
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Program
Designing the Past
Urban heritage and past ideals in contemporary
urban planning and design
13.00 – 13.15 Introduction
Tigran Haas – Three seminars/debates on urbanism
Krister Olsson – Designing the past – today’s seminar
13.15 – 14.15 Short talks
Gregory Ashworth – Why brand the future with the past?
Elizabeth Moule – Citi-Culture
Randall Mason – Consurbanism
14.15 – 14.45 Break with coffee and sweets
14.45 – 15.30 Panel with speakers
Gregory Ashworth, Elizabeth Moule and Randall Mason
Moderator: Krister Olsson
15.30 – 15.50 Q&A – Audience
15.50 – 16.00 Final words from speakers and closing of seminar
16.00 – 17.00 Mingle with refreshments
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