Mayor John Tory to Open International Landscape Architecture Conference May 2015 in Toronto organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553 | M: 202.225.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org
Conference and related events will examine the City’s leadership in the creation and stewardship of public landscapes & its international implications
(Washington, DC, May 14, 2015) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) today announced that Toronto Mayor John Tory will open the conference Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape, to be held on May 22, 2015 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, University of Toronto. The conference features experts from Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape, the centerpiece of four days of related events and activities, will examine the role of landscape architecture in the City’s current and ambitious phase of urban development along its waterfront, in its diverse neighborhoods, and the international implications of this planning and development strategy; and, it will also look at the City’s extant park system and how public/private partnerships could aid in effective, long-term stewardship.
Conference registration is now available, the rate is US$225; a limited number of student tickets are avaliable at US$75 each.
In addition to the daylong conference, the What’s Out There Weekend Toronto, May 23-24, will feature two days of free, expert-led tours of the City’s diverse body of new and heritage-designed landscapes (in tandem with the City’s Doors Open architecture tours).
On Thursday, May 21, a reception at the Gardiner Museum will launch the conference, What's Out There Weekend Toronto, and the free, online What's Out There Toronto Guide. The evening will also honor the tremendous efforts by students and faculty at Ryerson University, who conducted extensive research and produced entries for the What's Out There database on Toronto, the inaugural site outside of the US.
On Saturday, May 23, there will be a late afternoon tour and twilight reception - featuring creative, local cuisine paired with Ontario’s top wines and craft beers - in the BMO Atrium at Evergreen Brick Works. The former Don Valley Pressed Brick Works Company, which produced the bricks that built many of Toronto’s landmark buildings, is now a global showcase for green design and urban sustainability - and it was named one of the world’s top ten geotourism sites by National Geographic.
The events are being organized by TCLF in cooperation with a broad coalition of stakeholders including the City of Toronto’s Department of Planning and its Executive Director Jennifer Keesmaat, a featured conference participant, the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and Presenting Sponsors, TD Bank, Great Gulf, the City of Toronto and the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.
Designed for an audience that is local, national and international, the conference will address:
• What does it mean for a 21st century city to be historic and modern at the same time?
• Can the 21st century city be both regional and global?
• Can we use landscape as an engine to meet market demands while cultivating a sustainable urbanism?
• What new models for public/private financing and management are emerging?
• How are existing parks and open spaces adapted to accommodate contemporary and future needs and expectations?
• How do innovative landscape planning and design techniques developed in Toronto apply to other cities, and vice versa - what is the impact of imported ideas on local conditions?
Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape will feature internationally significant private-sector practitioners working on current and proposed projects in Toronto, municipal leaders, leading critics and thinkers, and academics; it is expected to draw 500 people, with approximately 25% of the seats set aside for reduced-priced tickets for students. It follows in form and structure the enormously successful sold out conferences organized by TCLF with The Chicago Architecture Foundation (2008), and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2011), each of which drew an international audience.
Numerous globally significant, innovative and influential practitioners are confirmed to participate including: • Adriaan Geuze, Principal, West 8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
• Thomas Woltz, Principal, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, New York, New York and Charlottesville, Virginia;
• Claude Cormier, Principal, Claude Cormier + Associates, Montreal (Quebec);
• Marc Ryan, Principal, Public Work, Toronto;
• Geoff Cape, CEO, Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto;
• Elizabeth Silver, Senior Associate, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, New York, New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts;
• Nina-Marie Lister, Associate Professor & Associate Director, School of Urban + Regional Planning, Ryerson University, Toronto;
• Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner & Executive Director, City Planning Division, City of Toronto.
The genesis of the conference stemmed from a May 2013 trip to Toronto by TCLF’s President and CEO, Charles A. Birnbaum, an internationally recognized expert on landscape architecture. The trip was organized by Toronto-based practitioners Janet Rosenberg, Founding Principal, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, Inc., and Michael McClelland, Principal, ERA Architects, Inc. Birnbaum subsequently wrote a Huffington Post article about the new waterfront development and the legacy parks and open spaces he toured.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), founded in 1998, is a non-profit foundation that provides people with the ability to see, understand and value landscape architecture, its practitioners, and our shared landscape legacy in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations. TCLF makes a special effort to heighten the awareness of those who impact cultural landscapes, assist groups and organizations working to increase the appreciation and recognition of cultural landscapes, and develop educational tools for young people to better connect them to their cultural landscape environs.
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