"Faces of the City" series: Prof. Ricky Burdett-Living in the Endless City
Prof. Ricky Burdett
Living in the Endless City
The NRF-SARCHi Chair in Development Planning and Modelling, the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), and CUBES at the Wits School of Architecture and Planning, are partnering with the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at UCT to host a special seminar within the regular Faces of the City Seminar Series.
Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and Director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age programme, will speak on themes from his new book, Living in the Endless City, the recently published follow-up to the highly acclaimed The Endless City.
Date: Tuesday, 20 September
Time: 16:00-18:00
Venue: A1 Lecture Theatre, John Moffat Building, East Campus, Wits University
Prof. Edgar Pieterse, DST/NRF South African Chair in Urban Policy, and Director of the African Centre for Cities, will be the respondent at the seminar.
Living in the Endless City: Overview
Combining smart writing, remarkable photographs and incisive research conducted by the Urban Age Project, Living in the Endless City is an investigation into the physical and social aspects of the modern urban condition, written by esteemed thinkers from all around the globe, under the leadership of Ricky Burdett of the London School of Economics and Deyan Sudjic of the Design Museum, London.
With reports and data on vital themes including security, climate change, density and globalization, Living in the Endless City focuses on three of the most vibrant and fastest growing mega-cities in the world; Mumbai, India’s economic powerhouse known as the ‘Maximum City’; São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous and dynamic city; and Istanbul, Europe’s largest city and one of the most resilient urban economies in the world. Comparisons are made throughout the volume with cities profiled as part of the Urban Age project, including Johannesburg. See attachment for a full summary of the book from the publisher, Phaidon Press.
Professor Ricky Burdett: Brief Biography
Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age programme. He is a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. He was Chief Adviser on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and now advises the Olympic Legacy Park Company. He was architectural adviser to the Mayor of London from 2001 to 2006. In addition to leading innovative research on global cities, Burdett has curated numerous exhibitions including ‘Global Cities’ at Tate Modern, was Director of the 2006 Architecture Biennale in Venice and chairman of the Jury for the 2007 Mies van der Rohe Prize. He is architectural adviser to the cities of Genova and Parma, and a member of the Milan Expo 2015 steering committee. He is a Council member of the Royal College of Art and sits on the Mayor of London’s Promote London Board. He is co-editor of ‘Living in the Endless City’ and a regular contributor to journals, books and media programmes on contemporary architecture and urbanism.
