The Quito Papers in the London context

“The Quito Papers” is a research collaboration between Theatrum Mundi, NYU and UN-Habitat, developed in the run-up to the United Nations Habitat III conference held in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016. With funding from the Kaifeng Foundation, Theatrum Mundi presented “The Quito Papers: towards the open city” film, directed by Dom Bagnato and Cassim Shepard.

Alongside the global series of public screenings and discussions held in Paris, London, Beijing and New York, Theatrum Mundi organised closed round tables to question urbanists practitioners and scholars on the ideas of “Quito Papers”, what they mean and how they can be interpreted in local contexts. The London discussion was held at the London School of Economics.

Short 10-minute provocations linking each of the three texts by Saskia Sassen, Richard Sennett and Ricky Burdett to the London context launched the discussion and helped the group develop a series of local responses to the “Quito Papers”. This was the second in a series of events debating the Quito Papers in Paris, London, Beijing and New York.

Participants:

Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology, New York University and London School of Economics; Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University; Adam Kaasa, Director, Theatrum Mundi; Wendy Pullan, Professor of Architecture &Urban Studies, Head of Dep. of Architecture, University of Cambridge; Steve Tompkins, Architect, Founding Director, Haworth Tompkins; Amica Dall, Designer and architect, Assemble; Stefan Jovanovic, Architect, dancer; Michael Keith; Director of COMPAS, Co-Director of University of Oxford, Future Cities Programme; Deborah Saunt, Architect, co-founder of DSDHA; Gavin Henderson, Director, Stanton Williams; Patrick Richard, Director, Stanton Williams; Anna Minton, School of Architecture, University of East London; Richard Bramwell, Prisons Research Centre, Cambridge University; David Madden, Assistant Professor in Sociology, LSE; Ben Campkin, Director of UCL Urban Laboratory; Sophia Psarra, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL; Mark Shaw, Architect, Studio Shaw; Miranda Iossifidis, Lecturer in Contextual and Theoretical Studies, University of the Arts London, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy, Goldsmiths; Dom Bagnato, Film-maker, Manager of Theatrum Mundi NY office; Cassim Shephard, Documentary film-maker, John Bingham-Hall, Researcher, Theatrum Mundi; Elisabetta Pietrostefani, Project Coordinator, Theatrum Mundi