Infrastructure and the Future
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Amanda Reeser Lawrence 5
November 21, 2009 9 am West Village F Northeastern University “Infrastructure and the Future: Assessing the Architect’s Role” is the first conference in a series organized by the School of Architecture at Northeastern addressing real-world issues facing architects today, particularly issues that span the academic and the professional realms. Our larger aim is to question, and hopefully broaden, our understanding of the role of architecture in addressing issues that are facing the contemporary city. But why infrastructure? Certainly this is a hot topic at the moment. Infrastructure, of course, was a central component of President Obama’s Stimulus Plan, and The New York Times annual architecture issue this year focused on infrastructure. Closer to home, we see panels at various architectural conferences, both professional and academic, issues of journals and magazines—including the most recent issue of Architecture Boston—and symposia like this one, all addressing the topic of infrastructure. But, as we were conceptualizing this conference, it seemed to us that none of these were really asking the crucial question: “What is the role of the architect?” Whether publicly or privately funded, architects have traditionally participated in major publics works projects—designs of schools, rail stations, and other buildings of public utility. While such projects continue to have value, the emergence of new technologies, settlement patterns, and economic relationships mandate that architects find new ways to participate in contemporary debates over where the country might most rationally and profitably invest in the future.