Offshoring Audacity

Look abroad: whole cities are planned, built, and inhabited in less than a generation. Artificial islands, indoor ski slopes, and the world’s tallest this-and-that are being constructed, not in the West, but in the Middle East, China, and beyond. The result: a sense that the West’s cities are falling behind and, increasingly, watching from the sidelines. A dynamic panel will discuss the accuracy of this assessment of today’s architectural situation. What are the urban implications of so-called offshoring audacity, and how can the phenomenon be described without resorting to nationalism, nostalgia, or even uncritical celebration? The panelists will be Joseph Grima, executive director of New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture and author of Instant Asia; Jeffrey Inaba, Principal of INABA, Director of C-Lab at Columbia University, and Features Editor of Volume Magazine; and Sam Jacob, visiting professor at Yale University and founding director, Fashion Architecture Taste, a London-based practice, and moderator Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDGBLOG and senior editor of Dwell magazine. Sat, Nov 08 2:30 - 4:00 PM Chicago History Museum, Auditorium 1601 N. Clark St. Map & Directions Tickets $5.00 each FREE for Educators & Students Chicago Humanities Festival