Iker Gil has organized and is moderating an event for the Chicago Architecture Biennial on Tuesday, January 19. The event, titled “Devising Long-Term Initiatives to Shape Equitable Futures,” features presentations by Minneapolis-based sociologist and photographer David Schalliol and architect Elizabeth Timme, co-founder of Los Angeles-based urban design non-profit organization LA Más.

Below you can find more information about the program and the participants:

Changes in economic, environmental, infrastructural, and health conditions are constantly reshaping our cities and communities. However, the impact and capacity to respond to these changing conditions are not equal. What are the long-term initiatives that can shape an equitable future? How can residents, especially those most vulnerable, have equitable access to resources to provide stability?

Minneapolis-based sociologist and photographer David Schalliol is interested in the relationship between community, social structure, and place. His project Reckoning with Vacancy concentrated on Chicago’s South and West Sides, where the last several decades have brought major changes to the built environment and its communities.

Los Angeles-based urban design non-profit organization LA Más approaches community development by bringing together local knowledge and culture with the power of informal and formal systems. Architect Elizabeth Timme co-founded LA Más because she saw the potential of design as a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to public projects and civic planning–a tool that could be used to support and voice the needs of the community.

Schalliol and Timme will share their work and the interests and goals that drives their practice; how designers and organizations can engage in a meaningful way with residents, community organizations, and local agencies; and how individuals and organizations can contribute efforts and elevate communities.

The event will be moderated by Iker Gil, director of MAS Studio and founder of the nonprofit MAS Context. Gil will provide an overview of the ideas and goals behind BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago, the exhibition he curated in the inaugural edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Time and Location
January 19, 2021
5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.