Speculating on Change

The New School
Kellen Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York City, New York

October 16, 2009 - 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Michael A. Cohen
Speculating on Change: Four Paradoxes of Our Urban Future

Each year, an inaugural lecture launches the Vera List Center's annual theme, defining the intellectual territory that will be explored in public programs throughout the year. The lecturer introduces the theme in the broadest sense, serving as a guide to the range and richness of the topic at hand, and rooting the concept within The New School's intellectual tradition.

This year's programs call for a speculation on notions of "change," specifically some of the descriptions, procedures and perceptions associated with change that inform collective action, whether political, scientific, or cultural. The inaugural lecture is delivered by Michael A. Cohen, Director, The Graduate Program of International Affairs at The New School.

The current global economic crisis demonstrates the impact on the economic welfare and political stability of both rich and poor countries of accelerating global flows of people, ideas, capital and competition for control over human and natural resources. Cohen discusses cities both as sites of the greatest impacts of global change, but also as sites providing solutions to some of the challenges that result from such change.

Admission: $8, free for all students, New School faculty, staff and alumni with valid ID

[graphic and text from New School electronic mailing. Caption: "Slum, Cape Town, South Africa." Photo by Theo Scheffler. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]