Neighbourhood infrastructure
In partnership with Calgary Public Library, d.talks took a deep dive into "public" and what access means from an urban infrastructure perspective for a community library. What is the relationship between public realm and the community?
WriteON resident writers Nowshin Matin and Linus Tan, in conversation with moderator Tawab Hlimi explored their research on the role of public infrastructure at a neighbourhood scale.
About the Speakers
Nowshin Matin: Growing up adjacent to a River, water life and man’s relationship with it always intrigued me. Embarking on tertiary education, Architecture has allowed me to explore the lives of various people and their relationships with the natural and built environment. Through my journeys I have come to understand – Architecture is not just about design, but people in design. Since then, my research and interests have pivoted around communities, namely their social construct and relationship with the natural environment, also, how our regional practice philosophies must evolve to be relevant in this spectrum.
Linus Tan is a researcher and team developer at Design Factory Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on architectural and design teams’ learning and reflecting behaviours to enable team members to use their tacit knowledge in their collective design processes. His broader interest is on understanding and influencing human behaviours in architectural environments. He can be contacted on his website, www.linustan.com.
Tawab Hlimi (moderator) is Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary. His design, research, and teaching overlap in the fields of ecology, infrastructure, and urbanism. Tawab has held academic positions at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as Visiting Designer in Residence and as Visiting Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University where he taught design studios on ecological infrastructure, and laboratories on landscape visualization and design communication. Prior to academia, Tawab practiced professionally in the design offices of Janet Rosenberg & Studio in Toronto, Hapa Collaborative in Vancouver, and Hargreaves Associates in San Francisco.
About WriteON
WriteON is an annual writing workshop series for emerging and established writers to consider the built environment. The WriteON 2021 series includes two residency programs that broaden opportunities for public conversation with critical ideas. The residency program in partnership with Calgary Public Library hosted two writers researching neighbourhood infrastructure.
We'd like to thank our partner the Calgary Public Library for making this residency a deep learning experience. A special thanks to: Adrian Wolfleg, Catherine Hamel, Danielle Nauss, David Down, Druh Farrell, Kelli Morning Bull, Myke Atkinson, Olivia Veltom, Rosemary Griebel, Steven Dohlman and Tawab Hlimi for contributing their knowledge to the residency.
A special thanks to Calgary Arts Development for making possible the WriteON 2021 program and our first critic-in-residence program and to Alberta Foundation for the Arts for supporting this work.