NEWS: Symposium at UCL in London, 24-25 July
Dear Colleagues,
The Environmental Structure Research Group held its third annual symposium July 24-25, 2008, in partnership with the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London; the Journal of Urbanism; Taylor and Francis publishers; and the Sustasis Foundation. Speakers included Robert Adam, Mike Batty, Bill Hillier, Stephen Marshall, Michael Mehaffy, Paul Murrain, Philip Steadman, Yodan Rofe, and a number of other ESRG colleagues.
The theme of the symposium was “Evolving Buildings and Cities: on Form and Function, Parts and Wholes, Innovation and Tradition, Intention and Emergence.” The discussion was wide-ranging and inter-disciplinary, covering colleagues’ work as well as a thorough historical background on the subject, spanning Patrick Geddes, Charles Darwin, D’Arcy Thompson and others.
The two days were divided into a public session on Thursday, covering broader topics of research and application, and a smaller, invitation-only session on Friday, to discuss current ESRG issues of concern and opportunities for collaboration.
Michael Mehaffy, coordinator
