reSITE 2016 Conference | Cities in Migration

June 16-17, 2016 / Forum Karlin, Prague

On June 16th-17th, Prague hosted the 5th annual international conference titled: “reSITE 2016: Cities in Migration.”

For the fifth consecutive year, the reSITE international conference became the largest concentration of the world’s top architects, urbanists, urban planners, landscape architects and economists. 40 of the world’s top experts from more than 20 countries were at the conference along with 800 international delegates. They explored solutions to make cities better places for the next generation to live, work and play.

The biggest stars gave lectures, like Professor Saskia Sassen, the director of NYC planning; Carl Weibsrod, the architecture critic; Michael Kimmelman, and architects Martin Rein-Cano and Mimi Hoang, who intermingled their emphasis on the needs of the people, communities, migrants, refugees and new residents in their concept of urban development, housing and public space.

The chairman and founder of reSITE, Martin Barry, began the conference by asking two questions: “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going?” He explained how these questions can evoke deep and fundamental issues of urban migration. He stated that “Cities must plan their future, not drift there. As residents we want to imagine where we want to be in 20 years, we can be anywhere, and cities must understand how to plan the ideal cultural, business and built environment. Planning and design is essential.” He emphasized the importance of a strong vision and smart urban planning for the next generation.

Discussion focused on architecture, development, public policy or transport infrastructure that is adapted to the arrival of new residents. Main speakers included world-renowned urban sociologist, Saskia Sassen, who discussed major themes including relationships between economics, immigration and geopolitics.The founder and head of nARCHITECTS Mimi Hoang discussed micro-unit housing in New York City.The New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman discussed migration related to climate change. Martin Rein-Cano, the founder of Topotek 1, spoke about the Superkilen Park in Copenhagen, which is influenced by the diverse cultures of residents in adjacent neighborhoods. Carl Weisbrod, the New York City Planning Commissioner, spoke about the importance of social cohesion and his project "Housing New York", to build 200,000 affordable housing units in the city over a 10-year period. Furthermore, the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) presented the ongoing Metropolitan Plan for Prague.

The audience reached reSITE’s broad target across sectors. As typical at reSITE events, the demographic mixed young and old, business, government and civic actors. And, hundreds of people were involved in a giant board game to plan the ideal city, called “Play the City” the largest urban planning game in Europe. Game designer Ekim Tan from Amsterdam said that it was the first time she involved so many people in the game, which was played on 12 different massive game boards on the floor of the Forum Karlin venue.

840+ Visitors

40 Speakers worldwide

23 Countries

77 Editors of foreign and Czech media

Professions of the Speakers

• 17 Architects

• 7 Urbanists

• 13 Represen-tatives of municipa-lities

• 17 Professors from leading universities

• 6 Social activists

• 3 Leading critics and journalists

• 8 Curators

• 3 Developers

• 7 Innovators in design and social projects

Audience

• 18% Represen-tatives of municipal governments

• 17% People involved in investment and real estate market

• 11% Architect and urbanists

• 14% Represen-tatives of NGOs and universities

• 17% Students

• 11% Media represen-tatives

• 12% Other visitors