What Does Dallas Want To Be? Conference

Internationally known experts on cities, urban planning and architecture will join city officials and business and civic leaders for “What Makes a City: Character and Calling, What Does Dallas Want to Be?,” a day-long conference co-presented by The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture,  The Trinity Trust Foundation and Dallas CityDesign Studio. The conference will take place Thursday, October 23, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., at The Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak St., Dallas, TX 75204. Admission is $60 for members of the Dallas Institute and its co-presenters, $75 for nonmembers, and $25 for member teachers. To register, visit www.dallasinstitute.org, or call (214) 871-2440.

 

Dr. Larry Allums, executive director of the Dallas Institute, said, “Since the first ‘What Makes a City?’ conference that Dr. Gail Thomas started in 1982, the Dallas Institute has focused much of its work on studying cities by drawing on the experiences of planning and urban experts. During this conference, we will attempt to imagine Dallas from a fresh perspective, setting aside our sworn allegiances for a brief moment in order to consider new ideas, whatever they might be.”

 

Dr. Gail Thomas, president and CEO of The Trinity Trust and director of the Dallas Institute’s Center for the City, and Dr. Allums will introduce the day’s program. Keynote speakers include Weiming Lu, internationally recognized urban planner and designer known for work in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Dallas, South Central Los Angeles, Chattanooga, and overseas; Vishaan Chakrabarti, principal of SHoP Architects and Holliday Professor and Director of CURE at Columbia University; and Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, principal of Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC. City of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings will give the opening remarks.

 

Panelists will include Lucy Crow Billingsley (Billingsley Company), Rev. Zan Holmes, Jr. (retired, St. Luke Community United Methodist Church), Monte Anderson (Options Real Estate), Don Gatzke (The University of Texas at Arlington), Jack Matthews (Matthews Southwest), King Scovall (Woodbine Development Corporation), Sara Mokuria (The University of Texas at Dallas), Byron Sanders (Dallas Education Foundation), Catherine Cuellar (The Dallas Arts District), Miguel Solis (Dallas ISD), and Tierney Kaufman (The Trinity Trust). Brent Brown, director of Dallas CityDesign Studio, and Dr. Allums will moderate the panel discussions.

 

Dr. Thomas added, “All of us want to build a great city. We want to help create a city that is unlike any other place on earth. We want to serve; we want to make a city that is alive with opportunity, a city that is nurturing to its people. We want places and intimate spaces that feed our souls, ignite imagination, evoke memory. The speakers and interactions generated at the conference will help us continue that conversation long after it is over.”