Architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri presents the upcoming volume “Green Obsession: Trees Towards Cities, Humans Towards Forest” in an online conversation with Carlo Caccavale, Director of AIA Los Angeles, promoter of an annual conference on climate change.
“Green Obsession”, to be published in January 2022, retraces the long path that Boeri and his studio have followed in the last fifteen years of activity, aiming at redefining the relationship between city and nature. The book alternates dialogues and scientific essays by some of the main protagonists who have contributed to broaden the perspective on this issue, helping to raise awareness and protect the world and its biodiversity.
Special thanks to Gaia Ceccaroli, International PR, Communications, CSR for her collaboration
BOOK INTRODUCTION
Cities have contributed for centuries to the promotion of some of humanity’s greatest ideas, we must now urgently include them as among the principal players in the environmental debate and at the forefront of any policy tackling and countering – possibly reversing – climate change. Nevertheless, even today one of the most significant technologies capable of absorbing CO2 and restoring our environment is photosynthesis. Planting trees, in addition to protecting existing natural areas and biodiversity, together with de-carbonization, renewable energies, digitalization, smart mobility and the circular economy could be the set of strategies necessary to tackle climate change.
Today the effects of the Anthropocene age are ever more visible, changing our environment and affecting every species that lives within it. Green Obsession offers a path to be taken, a hard but still necessary paradigm shift – even for architecture and urbanism – that aims to give a voice to this much needed ecological transition. It unveils the processes and the complexity involved in the search for a new kind of urbanism, while raising questions and opening old wounds related to the relationship between the human species and Nature and finally putting these fragments together to create a portrait of our era.
We need to conceive cities as new green catalysts. Now more than ever, it is essential to act together as separate individuals and professionals, joining the cause as members of the global community with a shared environmental strategy. We all have to open the era of a new alliance between Nature and City.
WHERE: Zoom Webinar
WHEN: October 5 2021 at 11 am PDT
EVENT LANGUAGE: English
##
Stefano Boeri Architect and Professor, Politecnico di Milano
Architect and urban planner, Stefano Boeri is Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano and visiting professor in several international universities, including Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (GSD), the Strelka Institute in Moscow and the Berlage Institute in the Netherlands, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. In Shanghai he is Director of the Future City Lab at Tongji University, a post-doctoral research program which explores the future of contemporary metropolis under the perspectives of biodiversity and urban forestry.
Director of the magazines Domus (2004-2007) and Abitare (2007 – 2011) and author of several publications, Stefano Boeri has played the role of curator in international architecture and urban planning exhibitions. From 2011 to 2013 he was Councilor for Culture at the Municipality in Milan.
Stefano Boeri’s work, with Stefano Boeri Architetti and Stefano Boeri Interiors, ranges from the design of architecture and urban visions to product design, with a constant focus on the geopolitical and environmental implications of urban phenomena.
In particular, the attention to the relationship between city and living nature, leads in 2014 to the realization of the Bosco Verticale in Milan, the first prototype of residential building hosting 800 trees and 20,000 plants. Among the main players in the debate on climate change in the field of international architecture, in November 2018 he was Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee for the first World Forum on Urban Forests, organized in Mantua together with FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization, UN). In 2019 he presented in New York the Great Green Wall of Cities project, developed with FAO, C40, UN Habitat and other international research organizations, on occasion of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019.
In 2018 he has been appointed President of Triennale di Milano.
Carlo Caccavale Executive Director, American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Chapter
Coupled with his knowledge of architecture and passion for policies that support excellence in the built environment, Carlo Caccavale brings 15 years of experience at the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles chapter to his position as its Executive Director. Carlo has initiated a number of AIA|LA conferences that contribute to the profession and surrounding region. They include Encompass, the AIA|LA Conference to Actualize Diversity and Inclusion; Design for Dignity, the AIA|LA conference focused on homelessness and housing affordability; and Powerful, Women Leading Design. To facilitate greater recognition for design excellence and widen the spectrum of offices participating in design awards programs, Carlo launched the Restaurant Design Awards in 2005 and the Residential Architecture Awards in 2016. In 2017, he started the chapter’s Architectural Photography Awards to celebrate those who translate three dimensional design to the single plane while capturing its intent.