Taking place from October 31 to November 6, 2009, HYDROCity explores the relationship between cities and water, presenting visionary leaders and design projects from around the world. Water shortages are changing patterns of urbanization and requiring increasingly elaborate infrastructures by which to source and transport water to urban centers, which in turn need to be redesigned and retrofitted to conserve, collect, repurify, and recirculate water resources. HYDROCity asks: What forms of urbanism and landscape systems will emerge, and what design potentials exist, in this expanding liquid infrastructure?
All of the HYDROCity events are free and open to the public. HYDROCity was made possible through the generous support of the Mondriaan Foundation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ottawa, and was developed in partnership with InfraNet Lab.
Monday, November 2
HYDROCity Panel: Water, Cities, Disaster
This discussion takes place at 5:30pm in the Arbour Room of Hart House, University of Toronto, located at 7 Hart House Circle.
Panelists discuss a future in which global warming drives catastrophic changes in hydrology even as cities face massive infrastructure investment deficits. Participants include: George L. Cooke, President and CEO, the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Co; Professor Robert Kirkbride, Parsons the New School for Design; Paul Kovacs, Executive Director, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction; and Tracy Metz, Dutch Delta Commission on Water Safety and visiting fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
The first 25 to arrive receive a free copy of Alphabet City’s Water anthology. The panel is sponsored by the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company.
Tuesday, November 3
The Building of Waterpleinen/Watersquare: Jeroen Bodewits
This lecture takes place at 1:00pm in Room 106 of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, located at 230 College Street.
Created for the City of Rotterdam, Watersquare responds to the increasingly violent rainstorms that will be driven by global warming by seeking to catch rain and thereby create playful public features while preserving the water quality in the canals. Watersquare was designed by Marco Vermeulen and Florian Boer and constructed by Jeroen Bodewits. A model of the project is on exhibition at Daniels through November 13.
Thursday, November 5
HYDROCity Exhibition Opening
The opening takes place at 6:00 pm at the Toronto Free Gallery located at 1277 Bloor Street West.
Curated by Anneke Abhelakh, Chris Hardwicke, Ghazal Jafari, John Knechtel and Mason White, the exhibition runs until January 5, 2010. The exhibition is presented, in part, through the support of RBC Blue Water Project, and the opening party sponsored by Netherlands Consulate General, Toronto.
Friday, November 6
HYDROCity Symposium on Hydrology and Urbanism
The symposium takes place from 9:00am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 6:00pm in Room 103 of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, located at 230 College Street.
Participants include: Anneke Abhela
kh, independent curator; Alan Berger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Aziza Chaouni, University of Toronto; Jandirk Hoekstra, H+N+S Landscape Architects, Utrecht; Michael Hough, York University; Nina-Marie Lister, Ryerson University; Liat Margolis, University of Toronto; Koen Olthuis, Waterstudio.NL, Rotterdam; Katherine Rinne, California College of the Arts; Catherine Seavitt, Catherine Seavitt Studio, New York; Kelly Shannon, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Richard M. Sommer, University of Toronto; David Waggonner, Waggonner & Ball Architects, New Orleans; Mason White, University of Toronto; Jane Wolff, University of Toronto; and Robert Wright, University of Toronto.
The symposium is presented, in part, through the generous support of Cities Centre, University of Toronto. Alphabet City gratefully acknowledges the partnership of University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.
For more information on Alphabet City Fesitval 2009: Water, please visit www.alphabet-city.org and for more information on the HYDROCity Symposium at Daniels, please visit www.daniels.utoronto.ca/events/symposia/2009/09/4780