UF's College of Design, Construction and Planning to host lectures

October 15, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning will host multiple lectures next week from some of the industry’s leading professionals. All of the lectures are free and open to the public.

Oct. 21, 6 p.m., Harn Museum of Art Auditorium

Robert Freestone, professor in the planning program at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, will present “The Heritage of Planning in Australia,” which will focus on his research developing a modern planning theory and practice in Australia, as well as heritage conservation.

Freestone’s world-renowned research also includes metropolitan restructuring and planning education, as well as sustainability. He is one of the seminal planners of inner city heritage areas in Australia. He will speak again at noon on Oct. 23 with a lecture titled, “Sustainable Town Centres, Malls to Main Streets: the American Trend and the Australian Response.” It will be held in the classrooms at the Harn Museum of Art.

The lectures are sponsored by the DCP Historic Preservation Program and the department of urban and regional planning.

Oct. 22, 6 p.m., Norman Hall, Room 137

Heinz Tesar, an architect and professor from Vienna, Austria, will present “Recent Works: Architecture of Layers,” which will review some of his recent projects. Tesar’s lecture is sponsored by DCP’s School of Architecture.

Oct. 22, 7 p.m., Harn Museum of Art Auditorium

David Lanthrop will be keynote speaker at a reception and lecture titled “The Changing Place of Business.” Lanthrop is director of research and strategy for Steelcase Inc., a Grand Rapids, Mich., company that serves as the world’s leading designer of work environment products and services.

He will speak about how new social technology is changing the world of business, and will discuss the effects this will have on knowledge work, creative class, innovation and learning over the next 20 years.

“I’d love people, particularly young people, to bring their expanding view of how they engage with others in the process of ‘work’ – for students, that’s learning of course – to the discussion of the meaning of buildings,” Lanthrop said.

In addition to the College of Design, Construction and Planning, Lanthrop’s lecture also is sponsored in part by Steelcase Inc., OEC Business Interiors of Gainesville, and the department of interior design.