CAPLA Hosts Interactive Virtual Sessions on Building a Changing World: Leading through Influence
Transformation of the design and building industry is occurring at an accelerating pace—bringing us both challenges and opportunities that result largely from decision makers in government and corporate boardrooms. As practitioners, faculty and students, how do we influence these decisions that fundamentally impact our economies, environments and societies?
On February 17 and 18, 2020 the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture explored that question at two online, interactive events featuring the CAPLA Futures Council, DesignIntelligence President and CEO Dave Gilmore and CAPLA faculty.
In the first session (watch below), Gilmore provided unique insight as to where we have been, where we are right now and where he believes we are going relating to industry, the professions and the personal. He examined five areas of “redefinition” that come with that change (values, value, priorities, leadership and effectiveness) and where we as students entering the profession, as educators and as practitioners may influence that change. Participants then engaged in a conversation with Futures Council members in virtual breakout rooms.
Gilmore’s business expertise performing strategic advisory and transaction support for companies and firms has taken him to more than 70 countries. He sits on multiple private company boards; is a regular contributor to thought leadership across the architecture, engineering and construction fields; and engages steadily in Silicon Valley technology strategy, development and go-to-market initiatives.
In the second virtual session (watch below), CAPLA Associate Professor of Architecture Susannah Dickinson led a panel of faculty and Futures Council members who likewise explored the question of how we influence decisions in the industry. Their dynamic conversation built from Gilmore’s keynote address, incorporating the faculty’s unique insight into teaching, research and service. Participating faculty were Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Arlie Adkins, Assistant Professor of Architecture Courtney Crosson, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Kristina Currans, Assistant Professor of Planning Ladd Keith, Professor of Landscape Architecture Margaret Livingston, Associate Professor of Architecture Beth Weinstein and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Bo Yang.
The CAPLA Futures Council is a multi-perspective advisory body for the college. It is through the lens of this group of luminaries from the academy, practice, industry and government that CAPLA seeks a regular and productive exchange to identify the grand challenges of the built environment. This exchange reflects the trends we should anticipate in our research and in the approaches we take in the classroom around the CAPLA vision: Building a Changing World. Futures Council members who participated in these events are Carrie Byles, partner at Skidmore Owings Merrill in San Francisco; Randy Deutsch, associate director of graduate studies at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana; Billie Faircloth, partner at KieranTimberlake in Philadelphia; Larry Head, professor of systems and industrial engineering at the University of Arizona; Diane Jacobs, principal at Holly Street Studios in Phoenix; Richard Johnson, director of the Administrative Center for Sustainability and Energy Management at Rice University in Houston; and Brian Olasov, executive director for financial services consulting at Carlton Fields in New York City.
