For the second year in a row, PVDFest kicks off with a one-day ideas conference. The theme of PVDFest Ideas 2018 is Cyborg Cities: Humans, Technology, and Urban Spaces, a frame that brings together artists, scholars, designers and practitioners to consider what might be gained, and lost, as cities integrate new technologies to become smarter.
PVDFest Ideas is Powered by Cox Business and presented by the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and gold sponsor KITE Architects.
The keynote address, Human-Centered Smart Cities, features author and architecture critic Dr. Sarah Williams Goldhagen (Welcome To Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives) in conversation with Christine West, AIA, principal at KITE Architects.
PVDFest Ideas also includes two panel discussions featuring artists, scholars, architects, and urban planners. The themes of the two panels are Rising Tides and Responsive Technologies and Big Data and Artist Activism. Advocates for the “smart cities” movement suggest that standardized, rational, and finely tuned urban spaces will help people adapt to today’s greatest challenges, from rising sea levels to cybersecurity breaches.
Only 75 tickets are available. Tickets and speaker bios for PVDFest Ideas are now available here for $15 and include morning coffee and an afternoon snack. Conference participants can visit one of downtown Providence’s many world-class lunch options.
PVDFest Ideas runs from 8:30am-5pm on Thursday, June 7, 2018 at the Providence Public Library (150 Empire St.)
PVDFest Ideas is made possible through collaboration with program partners Providence Public Library and DESIGNxRI with support from Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.