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College of Architecture Research Forum: Subhro Guhathakurta

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Subhro Guhathakurta, “Confronting An Uncertain Future: Planning in the Era of Climate Change and Other Global Crises”

View this lecture in the GT SMARTech Archive

Please join us this Thursday to hear Dr. Subhro Guhathakurta speak on “Confronting An Uncertain Future: Planning in the Era of Climate Change and Other Global Crises.”

Director of the Center for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Professor of Planning, Dr. Guhathakurta writes: We are living in an age of uncertainty that is unique at several levels. The current economic downturn precipitated by the U.S. subprime mortgage debacle, the potential for catastrophic climate change, the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more generally the war on terror, profoundly affects our ability to plan for a secure future. These unfolding events point to an immensely complex world with multiple layers of uncertain drivers and unknown "tipping points" and “Black Swans”. Now, more than ever, the most significant issues impacting cities and regions are forces outside their borders. This presentation is about confronting these challenges and finding a pathway to articulate the uncertainties through a different form of planning. Along the way I will discuss the evolving concept of sustainability and an approach to planning with hierarchical scenarios. I will also illustrate our efforts to develop some novel modeling and visualization tools to monitor and communicate sustainability indicators.

About the CoA Research Forum:

The College of Architecture in partnership with the Georgia Tech Library and Archives hosts this monthly research series held on the last Thursday of each month during the academic year. In each Forum, a CoA faculty member, research scientist, student, or colleague talks about his/her research. The purpose of the series is to provide an informal forum for members of the Georgia Tech community to present their work, explore ideas, and identify opportunities for collaboration. The talks are free and open to the public, in the Architecture Library from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Upcoming COA Research Forum Events:

September 27: Sarah M. Smith, Research Scientist, Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development

October 25: “Defining Artifact and Context in Gothic Architecture: Why It’s Not So Obvious”
Laura Hollengreen, Associate Professor, School of Architecture,

November 29: “Reconfigurable CNC Molding Technologies for Non-standard Fabrication”
Tristan Al-Haddad, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture
Matthew Swarts, Research Scientist, Digital Fabrication Lab
Wenwen Zhao, Graduate Student, School of Architecture

January 31: Jason Brown, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture

February 28: Jon Sanford, Associate Professor and Director, Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access

About Subhro Guhathakurta:

Subhro Guhathakurta joined GeorgiaTech in 2011 as the Director of the Center for Geographic Information Systems and Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning. He was previously Associate Director of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University (ASU) and among the founding faculty members of ASU’s School of Sustainability. Professor Guhathakurta was instrumental in developing the Urban Modeling and Simulation Lab in ASU’s College of Design. He also serves as the lead member of several research centers at ASU including the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation, Decision Center for a Desert City, and the project on Sustainable Urban Systems, Technologies, and Infrastructure (SUSTaIn). He is an author of 5 books and monographs and over 70 scientific papers. His article on the interface between urban modeling and planning theory was awarded the Chester Rapkin Award for the best paper (1999) in Journal of Planning Education and Research. His editorial contributions include books such as "Integrated Urban and Environmental Models: A Survey of Current Applications and Research" (Springer-Verlag, 2003) and "Visualizing Sustainable Planning" (Springer 2009). He has held visiting appointments at the Center for Urban Spatial Analysis at University College London, the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, and at the Center for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. More recently, he held the German National Science Foundation (DFG) Mercator Guestprofessorship at Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Status

  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Joanie Chembars
  • Created:06/19/2012
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016