In the spirit of the variety of urbanism – some upcoming events from University of Washington in Seattle as part of the Now Urbanism: City Making in the 21st Century and Beyond – a year long interdisciplinary series of speakers around the concept of the modern city.  Thanks to Thaisa Way from UW for the heads up… I hope to make it to the Nov. 18 event, which should be a great dialogue from a couple of different, but inspiring, thinkers Randy Hester and Chris Reed.

November 18: Environmental Urbanism: Ecological Design For Healthy Cities 

(What does it mean to envision a healthy city – one that nurtures both people and the environment? Environmental Urbanism acknowledges and embraces the relationships between people and their material surroundings. This session will explicitly consider how the human processes of city making involve an ongoing negotiation with various non-human elements– soils, water, atmosphere, and animals. By considering the intended and unintended effects of urbanization, our goal is to better understand how and to what extent we can intentionally shape future urban landscapes.  Speakers include:

• Chris Reed, STOSS, Boston
• Randolph T. Hester, Landscape Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
• Howard Frumkin, Dean, UW School of Public Health
• Panel Moderated by Peter Steinbrueck, Steinbrueck Urban Strategies

Additional dates of events can be found on their website and include a number of upcoming events of interest in the next year.

• Informal Urbanism: Slum Cities and Global Health (January 13, 2011)
• Transcultural Urbanism: Immigrant Cities (February 11, 2011)
• Generosity of Cities: Arts, Humanities, and the City (March 10, 2011)
• Next Eco-Cities (April 7, 2011) 
• Towards Just Cities (May 5, 2011) 
• The University and the City (May 26, 2011)