The Information City in Formation

On December 15–16, 1991, the Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism invited a group of theorists, critics, and practitioners to consider the relationship between architecture, urban design, and information technology. Each invited speaker was asked to talk for fifteen minutes on an aspect of their recent work—either a formal response to the socioeconomic changes resulting from new communications technologies, or a reflection on the use of such technologies as an integral part of the design process. Many of the papers and discussion concerned the role of visual representation in a period of rapidly evolving imaging technologies, and the nature of public space at a time when the deteriorating physical infrastructure of our cities competes with increasingly seductive “virtual reality” environments.

Speakers:

Judith Barry, artist and writer, New York City

Christine Boyer, Professor of Urban Planning, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ

Richard Bolton, Chair, Art Studio, University of California Santa Barbara

Mark Bouman, Department of Geography, Chicago State University

Jillian Burt, Director of Computing and Publications, School of Architecture, Tulane University, New Orleans

Lisa Krohn, Principal, Krohn Design, New York City

Ross Miller, Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism Fellow-in-Residence; Professor, Department of English, University of Connecticut, Stamford, CT

Michel Mossessian, architect, SOM, Chicago

Michael Sorkin, architect, critic, and educator, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York City

Brian Wallis, Senior Editor, Art in America

Respondents:

Janet Abrams, Director, Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism

Barry Bergdoll, Assistant Professor of Art History, Columbia University, New York City

Maurice Blanks, Research Assistant, Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism

Adam Brooks, artist and curator, Chicago

Sharon Couzin, Head of Film, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Michael Freedberg, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Chicago

Mary-Lou Gallagher, American Planning Association, Chicago

Miriam Gusevich, Planning and Research Manager, Chicago Park District

Taisto Mäkelä, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, University of Colorado, Denver

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Exhibitions Curator, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago

Mary Murphy, Twentieth-Century Department, Art Institute of Chicago

Scott Rankin, Committee on Art and Design, University of Chicago

Jilly Simons, Principal, Concrete, Graphic Design Consultancy, Chicago

Elizabeth Smith, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Ray Wang, ArcLight Film and Video, Chicago