Debates on Urban Excellence (DUE)

Please join the new Rudy Bruner Center for Urban Excellence for our inaugural biennial Debate on Urban Excellence on Saturday, October 26! This fall, our debate will focus on place and placemaking. As we increasingly understand the value of meaningful places and the process of making places, these concepts have roots in decades of careful thought that inform an equal multitude of fascinating futures. Over a dozen international academic and professional thought leaders debate the past, present and future of place and placemaking, setting the agenda to better position, envision, co-create, and communicate place.

The event will take place all day Saturday, October 26 between 9am and 5pm at the University at Buffalo's unique Hayes Hall, as well as through a live online stream. Registration is free for students (with an .edu email address), $30 for non-students online, and $50 for non-students in person. The in-person event includes lunch, and registrants can benefit from 7 AIA and APA CM/CE credits.

Place and the process of making place are at the root of meaningful and durable urban environments. Yet the academic and professional debate and recognition of place risks being overshadowed in the flurry of contemporary urban challenges, especially in the post-COVID era. All this while place is under fire from multiple angles. Unprecedented pressures of urban commodification and homogenization fueled by our quest for efficiency and aversion to risk often leaves little room for the inherent inefficiencies and idiosyncrasies that underlie unique places and their collaborative making.

This fall, sixteen thought leaders (twelve speakers and four moderators) on place and placemaking will debate: why does place matter, and what are contemporary challenges to place? How do we envision better places? How do we co-create places? And how do we educate colleagues, citizens, and critics on the value and future of places?

1. This debate will sharpen your thoughts on place and placemaking, questioning, investigating, and setting the agenda on this cornerstone of urban excellence. You will learn from urban thought leaders across various disciplines, backgrounds, and viewpoints on place and placemaking. This debate allows you to see past one-size-fits-all solutions and instead explore some of the most crucial questions that cities face today and in the future.
2. You will be able to understand what place and placemaking means from a wide range of lenses including urban planning, urban design, real estate development, architecture, art, sociology, psychology, geography, placemaking, storytelling/humanities, and learning sciences. You will see how place and placemaking is a multifaceted process, with its contributors challenged to build bridges between disciplines, between academia and practice, and between professionals and urban communities. The group of speakers is curated in such a way that their perspectives may challenge one another, sharpening our insights on place and collectively exploring new and innovative approaches.
3. You will hear from a select group of high-profile urban thought leaders who will share, discuss and sharpen their insights on achieving urban excellence in four thematic sessions. You will be able to learn the key current questions of place in each of these sessions, including how place and placemaking is currently positioned, how places are envisioned, how places are co-created, how places are communicated and taught, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for place.