Organized in collaboration with the European Cultural Centre’s Venice Biennale Exhibition, NANO brought international architecture forum 'Shaping the City' to New Orleans on October 5th and 6th, 2023. The two-day symposium introduced a new lens, “Designing for Climate Emergency”, bringing together planners, academics, architects, and politicians to share knowledge, best practices, and new design solutions to help coastal communities get better equipped to deal with the impacts of climate change.
The forum kicked off at the AIA Center for Design on October 5th with a welcome note from AIA New Orleans President Peter Spera, presentations from the Chief Resilience Officer of New Orleans, Greg Nichols, NANO's managing partners, Terri and Ian Dreyer, and a Venice x New Orleans panel including Professor Carlo Federico Dall'Omo from the Università Iuav di Venezia. The panel discussed the similarities between Venice and New Orleans, both culturally significant cities suffering from flood risk, subsidence, overtourism, and historical preservation.
NANO exhibited models of their ARX, conceptual muti-use hubs designed for climate resilience and safe harbor.
The event was hosted by both NANO and the European Cultural Center, who produce the 'Time Space Existence' exhibition that featured NANO in 2021.
Christian Rodriguez, principal at Eskew Dumez Ripple. presents in the 'Catalysing Urban Resilience' session.
The full-day forum took place at the Patrick F. Taylor Library at the Ogden Southern Museum, beginning with Session 1, "Catalysing Urban Resilience".
Speakers included Nicola Tollin (UNESCO Chair for Urban Resilience), Charles Sutcliffe (Chief Resilience Governor Office Coastal Activities), Martin Anzellini (Director Smart and Sustainable Cities of Probogotá Region), Margarita Jover (Tulane University School of Architecture), Michael Hecht (Greater New Orleans, Inc.), Christin Rodriguez (Principal, EskewDumezRipple), Taneha Kuzniecow Bacchin & Fransje Hooimeijer (University of Technology Delft), Megan Born (Field Operations), and Charles Sutcliffe (Louisiana Governor's Office).
Coleman Jordan, Assistant Professor at Morgan State University, presents on the history of redlining and environmental injustice in African American communities
Martin Anzellini discusses the threat of climate change to housing access.
The final session, "Environmental Justice and Climate Change", brought an intersectional approach to the conversation. Sarah Williams (Director, Civic Data Design Lab at MIT), explored how climate change relates to the rise in migration in Central America, finding that economic factors, violence, food insecurity, and increased natural disasters were main drivers. From the UN Refugee Agency, Md. Ehsanul Hoque and Md. Sultan Mahmud presented virtually on how sustainable land management and planning reduced disaster risks for refugees.
Other afternoon speakers included Simone Domingue (Tulane ByWater Institute), Patricia Lussier and Audrey Girard (Lemay Studio), Coleman Jordan (Morgan State University), Francisco Rodriguez-Suarez and Isabella Hillman (Illinois School of Architecture) and Kurt Marsh (Snohetta). The day ended with a full panel discussion on the way forward and the significance of bridging disciplinary gaps to make our cities more resilient.
