New forces shaping cities

A two-part symposium held in April at various locations across the UT Austin campus focused on important issues and ideas that will shape cities in the 21st century. The event was sponsored by the LBJ School, the LBJ Library, and various university units that include the Center for American Architecture and Design, the School of Architecture, and the Urban Issues Program.

The first part of the symposium, called "The Good Building: A Matter of Values," featured architects and architecture writers from all parts of the country. It examined how fine architecture helps to make a good city and discussed ways that ordinary people value buildings differently from architects.

The second part of the symposium, "The Good City: Technology and the Urban Future," explored how cities will deal with rapid technological change in communications, design, commerce, and community.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, who spoke during this part of the symposium, said his views were from the perspective of a mayor of "a technology city" that is "in the process of seizing a new identity." He noted that new information technology will change the way cities will sustain their economy.

"You can locate anywhere because it is a system that knows no boundaries and knows no borders," he said. "We need to figure out how we, as cities, sustain that economy. Cities can no longer focus on just one element of the economy." Instead, he said, three elements are needed in order to survive: cities must care for and feed the information economy while protecting the quality of life and the environment and ensuring equity for all its citizens.

One of the symposium's keynote speakers was William Mitchell, an architect and professor who is a pioneer in computer-aided design. According to him, there is an uneasy accommodation between the physical world and the electronic world right now, but as the virtual world becomes more important in our lives, society will need to make the two worlds fit together.

"Obviously, they can be made to fit together rather elegantly," he said, "but we're not going to immediately transform all of our world into the world of tomorrow." He added that as we make the electronic and the physical worlds work together, "new spatial possibilities will emerge."

The second part of the symposium featured a panel entitled "Technology and the Urban Future." It was moderated by LBJ School Professor Elspeth Rostow and included Gary Chapman, director of the LBJ School-based 21st Century Project; Eli Noam, professor of finance and economics at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information; LBJ School Professor Peter Ward; UT Austin College of Communication Dean Ellen Wartella; and UT Austin Civil Engineering Professor C. Michael Walton.

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