UofT lecture on ‘geography of energy’ Jan. 19

The Michael Hough/OALA Visiting Critic Lecture will explore “What is the geography of energy?” with Pierre Bélanger and Jessica F. Green on Jan. 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W.

“What is the Geography of Energy?” will explore how landscapes of energy govern the planet, including how we conceptualize relationships between human intervention and the natural environment, the politics of these equations, and art/design practices that aestheticize (or naturalize/facilitate) destruction. The discussion will feature Pierre Bélanger, Co-Director of the Master of Design Studies Program in Urbanism, Landscape, and Ecology at Harvard GSD, and Jessica F. Green, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU.

The lecture will be moderated by Jane Wolff, Associate Professor in the Landscape Architecture program at the Daniels Faculty.

As a Canadian-American Landscape Architect and Urban Planner, Pierre Bélanger is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and Co-Director of the Master in Design Studies (MDes) Program Area in Urbanism, Landscape, and Ecology with urban geographer Neil Brenner and design engineer Bobby Pietrusko.

Cross-appointed with the Advanced Studies Program in Design and the Canada Program at the Harvard Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Bélanger teaches and writes on subjects at the intersection of territory, history, infrastructure, media, conflict, and power. Involved in trans-media activist practice, his most recent work includes the curation of the controversial Canadian Pavilion on #EXTRACTION at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale (@1partperbillion) in collaboration with goldsmiths Kevin Hume & Geneviève Ennis (Atelier Hume, Vancouver), design fabricator Stephen Beites (Beites & Co., Toronto), ecologist & planner Nina-Marie Lister (Ryerson University, Toronto), and the architectural collective RVTR (Toronto-Detroit).

As the first landscape architect to receive the Canada Prix de Rome in Architecture, Bélanger is also author of the 35th edition of Princeton Architectural Press’ Pamphlet Architecture Series in 2015, titled “GOING LIVE: From Models to Systems,” which profiles the influence of time on a range of territories through living systems and lived experiences, and also features conversations with Keller Easterling, Sanford Kwinter, and James Corner.

Bélanger’s recent publications include two core books designed by OPSYS Media that employ the lens of land and landscape to understand the power of nation states, institutional systems and engineering sciences, LANDSCAPE AS INFRASTRUCTURE: A Base Primer (Taylor & Francis, 2016) with a foreword by technological historian Rosalind Williams, and ECOLOGIES OF POWER: Countermapping the Military Geographies & Logistical Landscapes of the U.S. Department of Defense co-authored with Alexander Arroyo (MIT Press, 2016).

Recent collaborations include guest editing the 39th Issue of Harvard Design Magazine with Jennifer Sigler titled “Wet Matter”, an issue exploring the future of the ocean and precursor to research on world waters, The Oceanic Turn. He is also editor of the forthcoming book EXTRACTION EMPIRE (MIT Press, 2017) featuring a range of interviews, archives, and essays from Canada’s most influential scholars, artists, and industrialists, profiling the scales, spaces, and systems of the largest resource extraction nation on the planet.

Jessica F. Green is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU. She received her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. Her research seeks to understand the ways that global institutions, both public and private, can address global environmental problems. She is the author of Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance. Published in 2014 by Princeton University Press, it has received awards from the International Studies Association and the American Political Science Association for the best book in environmental politics and policy, as well as the Levine Prize for its contribution to public policy and administration. She has published in journals including International Organization, Global Environmental Politics, and Governance. She also contributes to the Monkey Cage, a political science blog published by the Washington Post. Before entering the academy, she was a policy analyst at United Nations University in Tokyo and New York.

This is a ticketed event, all attendees are required to present their printed or mobile ticket to gain admission to the event. Get tickets on the registration page. Ticket holders must arrive by 6:20 PM to claim their seats.