School’s Out! #49 Housewarming
Lezing / Debat
The Independent School for the City is moving to a new location on the top floor of “Het Archief” on the Robert Fruinstraat 52 in Rotterdam. We warmly invite you all to our housewarming party! Expect a festive School’s Out XL edition with a talk by the Guardian’s architecture and design critic Oliver Wainwright, followed by drinks and DJ’s!
Oliver Wainwright will talk about “The New Utopias”. City building is back – and being weaponised like never before. Silicon Valley tech bros are drawing up plans for libertarian free states. The Saudi monarchy is concocting sci-fi fantasies in the desert. Donald Trump has a megalomaniacal ambition to transform Gaza into the “riviera of the Middle East”. Bjarke Ingels is busy conjuring everything from a Mindfulness City in Bhutan, to a floating city for the UN, to a masterplan for the entire planet.
What is driving this new age of city building? Who are these heady visions for? And what are the consequences for people and the planet? This talk will unpick the motivations and machinations behind this alarming new epoch of grand urban plans, and what it means for the future of our cities.