Snapshots of the City 2.0: TEDxKyiv
(Top photo from Instagram user alexneskin; Bottom photos from L to R: avasavitsky; kocherganchyk; romanguro; valo_yeah)
From organizer Olga Romanyuk:
The future for the city depends on how connected we are. To emphasize the importance of urban connections, the TEDxKyiv team held TEDxCity2.0 event at the art gallery just under the great city connector - one of the river bridges. Though the gallery presented the challenge of not being a perfectly-equipped conference room and having different light than required for slides, cameras, and video production, which are always top quality by TEDx events, we knew that not all ideas are born in a perfect greenhouse.
The nurturing support of partners taking care of some production as well as speakers becoming a real team and encouraging each other at rehearsals, and of course the participants’ beliefs and expectations made the event happen. The idea of the City 2.0 resonated with ideas from our speakers, many of whom spoke about the connections that will move the city forward: dialogues between urban artists, entrepreneurs, bike owners, social innovators, architects, the IT community.The celebratory spirit was heightened by the event’s coincidence with the third anniversary of TEDxKyiv. And we look forward to more to come - for the city and the TEDx community!
Snapshots of the City 2.0: TEDxSacramento
Among other things, architect Jason A. Silva builds cardboard houses. For TEDxSacramento’s TEDxCity2.0 event, he took his work to a new level, building an entire cityscape.
“The TEDxSacramento stage design is a concept based on an abstraction of a city,” he said, “and was made entirely from recycled corrugated materials.”
On his process, Jason writes:
“Colored paper was inserted in each roof as an indicator of urban density and environmental impact - the low-rise buildings are a bright yellow, the mid-rise green and the high-rise blue. The TEDx letters are made from stacked corrugated, with a red printed face layer.
The pre-assembled corrugated fabrications were all provided by American River Packaging in Sacramento, CA. Once the material has been used numerous times it will be delivered to Sol Collective, a community based organization that uses it to make piñatas and for organic gardening. Finally, all material that remains will be taken back by American River Packaging, shredded and placed in their anaerobic digestor, which converts the material into gas and turns it into electricity by co-generation.
(Top photos from Instagram user jayarchitect; Bottom photo from Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects, of Jason’s work at another event.)
Snapshots of the City 2.0: TEDxHonolulu
At TEDxHonolulu’s TEDxCity2.0 event, attendees were wowed by the event’s “Before I die…” wall, an outdoor art installation inspired by the work of TED Fellow and speaker Candy Chang, who turned an abandoned house in her neighborhood into an interactive wall for people to share their hopes and dream by completing the sentence, “Before I die I want to…”
Says organizer George Carroll:
Attending TEDActive 2012 and having the opportunity to see the “Before I Die…” wall in Palm Springs and in Long Beach truly inspired me. When I discovered who Candy Chang was and the work she was doing I knew we had to have this wall up at our next event. Since we had already decided to move forward with “The City 2.0” theme for our 2012 main event “The Before I Die…” wall would be a perfect fit…
One of our amazing volunteers, Sarah McCann, agreed to lead our Interactive Exhibit Team. Sarah ordered the “Before I Die…” stencil kit and recruited local sponsors to donate funds. She also arranged for a local elementary school to donate the chalkboards in exchange for a $500 donation to help them to purchase new whiteboards. As expected, the “Before I Die…” boards were a hit with attendees.
(Top photo from Instagram user alantamayose; Bottom photos from L to R: jamesoscar; kiwidiva)
Snapshots of the City 2.0: TEDxDesMoines
(Photo from Instagram user loganchristian)
At TEDxDesMoines in Iowa, ideas about the city of the future spread like wildfire. Speakers spoke on a variety of topics relevant to urban inspiration, including the city’s evolving needs for water treatment processes; economic effects on urban design; historic preservation as neighborhood revitalization; and the future of the smart grid.
Said organizers, “Attendees had great things to share and remarked about how unique this event was compared to other community events in Des Moines. I could see people interacting from different industries and backgrounds.”
