March

Urbanism to Save Us All: How Cities are Reshaping Our Social and Physical Lives

Bruce Nesmith, Joan and Abbott Lipsky Professor of Political Science, and Drew Westberg, Assistant Professor of Stead Department of Business Administration and Economics
March 7, 14, 21, 28

Cities, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, “they are a- changin’.” American cities from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Kansas City, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., are responding to the challenges of the 21st century — often by rediscovering their pasts. In this forum series, Professor of Political Science Bruce Nesmith and Assistant Professor of Economics Drew Westberg will draw on local, national and international examples and experiences to explore four broad challenges facing today’s cities. These include maintaining social connections among residents, encouraging healthy lifestyles, living within the limits of the environment and being financially sustainable. The presenters will examine each of those challenges in depth during the four weeks of this series. While to some extent these challenges have always been part of human experience, today they also stem from choices that have been made in the ways people have designed cities. Cities have and always will operate as people design them. By exploring how people in today’s cities are rethinking urban space in order to meet tomorrow’s challenges, this forum will show how cities can be redesigned to meet challenges and can lead the way in reshaping our world.