TEDxPhilly News & UpdatesAll the latests news and information from TEDxPhilly 2011

Lilium Urbanus is an amazingly beautiful animated short by Anca Risca and Joji Tsuruga which ilustrates that all great things, even cities, start small and often in the most unexpected of ways.

 
 
This is what the creators had to say to the folks over at Scientific America about the making of the film:

We embraced the idea of urban growth and saw it as something uncontrollable, having a mind of its own. Like a growing flower, a small town constructs larger buildings and becomes a flourishing city with skyscrapers for leaves, airport runways for petals, and airplanes for seeds. Our goal was to show that a city is like a living being, constantly growing, changing, and spreading.

Augmented Reality is changing the way we interact with our surroundings, from geolocated public art exhibitions to interactive gaming applications, our perspective of the world around us is a combination of people and places, concepts and interactions. Augmented Reality is moving into its next phase with some projects aiming to change how we see the city around us by bridging the physical and the virtual, creating new urban landscapes in the process.

On October 15th, Re:Activism at ICA will turn Philadelphia’s history of local protests, demonstrations, and other sites of social activism into an interactive game using cell phones and SMS, inviting participants to “play their city”. All necessary game and transportation materials will be provided, but at least one member of each team will need a smart phone. The game will conclude with a pizza party/wrap up session at Kelly Writers House. For more information & to register to participate, check out the Eventbrite page.

Mechanics of Place is a collaborative art project by Hana Iverson and Sarah Drury focused on creative urban engagement. Participants contribute adding their audio, video and images through a Mobile Augmented Reality platform, co creating experiences that bridge the physical and virtual. This process creates an expanding collection of AR poems which are then geotagged in specific locations around the world.

Reconfiguring Site: New approaches to Public Art and Architecture is a six-week residency program at The School of Visual Arts that serves as an innovative model for interdisciplinary approaches to public art, delving into site-specific aspects and intrinsic elements of creating art in an urban setting: scale, history, social meaning and formal aesthetics. “Crossing the boundaries into architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, new media technologies and other arenas, the revitalization of public art has become a global trend, as more sensitivity to the nuance of site is increasingly valued.”

According to a recent article on GOOD Transportation, Ride For Your Life: In Barcelona, Bike Sharing Saves More Than Gas “a successful and widely used bike sharing program in Barcelona prevents 12 deaths a year.” Supported by a recent study published earlier this summer by the British Medical Journal, which based it’s findings on citywide shifts in commuter habits, as affected by the bike sharing program which was launched in 2007.

This news isn’t surprising when you consider the facts:

• On average, commuting 10 miles a day by bike instead of car burns 110,250 calories (keeping off 30 pounds of fat each year)
• Commuting by bicycle for 15 minutes each way (about 2-3 miles) meets the Center for Disease Control’s minimum recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day
• Regular physical activity (such as bicycling) may help reduce your risk for many diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancers, and osteoporosis. It also helps to control weight; contributes to healthy bones, muscles, and joints; and reduces falls among older adults

Both Washington DC and New York City are set to launch new programs in the coming year with 10,000 bikes located at stations throughout each city respectively, with hopes to increase those numbers exponentially in coming years. The decision to go ahead with these plans were highly influenced by a 2009 report issued by the Department of Transportation which outlined the considerable environmental and health benefits of such a program.

The perfect precursor to TEDxPhilly: The City…  AIGA’s Philadelphia Screening of Gary Hustwit’s New Film – Urbanized

Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanized frames a global discussion on the future of cities.

EVENT DETAILS:
Special screening with director Gary Hustwit in association with AIGA Philadelphia and AIA Philadelphia. Presented in conjunction with the The Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University.

November 3, 2011, 6:30 and 9:00 PM screening times
Drexel University, Mitchell Auditorium, Bossone Research Center
Philadelphia PA, USA
Tickets on sale now.

Would you like your artwork to be featured in the program for one of the most inspiring and unique events in Philadelphia?

Show us your interpretation of the theme THE CITY!! Whether it is your existing artwork, or something new…we want to see your photographs, paintings, drawings, mixed-media pieces, etc – any creative version of the theme. There is no entry fee and you may submit as many entries as you like for consideration. Enter your best city-based designs and artwork today and be a part of this exciting event! GET CREATIVE!!

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: OCTOBER 10th, 2011
Email all entries to: artwork@tedxphilly.com

REQUIREMENTS:
File size: please send a 300dpi PDF file or hi-res JPG
Please include: your name and title of your work (if it has one)
Size: 4.25” (h) x 5.5”(w)
Bleed: if you know what a bleed is then go for it. Please add ⅛” all the way around
Color: No color requirements…black and white, full color, monochromatic, anything you like….

If your document is not submitted correctly, it will not be accepted. We have provided a template to help ensure your artwork fits properly - click here to download. Please be sure to follow the requirements so we can all be happy!

*If you are more of a 3-dimensional artist and are interested in exhibiting at our event, please email us with some information about the type of work you do, some photos, and your contact information. If you would like to create something specific for the event, please include a 600 word or less description.

Interest in urban beekeeping has been growing over the past several years. Take a look at how Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are cultivating local honey from urban bees…

PHILADELPHIA
The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild has been promoting local and sustainable apiculture for some time in the area. They celebrate their sweet delights through an annual Honey Festival (which recently passed.) In addition, they hold monthly workshops/meetings on pertinent topics for urban beekeepers. Philadelphia is so lucky to have this group!

Tyler School of Art at Temple University will be hosting a Feast of Forage with horticulturist Nance Klehm on Sept. 21. Considering the streets of North Philadelphia as a wild urban garden of edible and medicinal plants, Klehm will lead a walking tour of sidewalks, parking lots, and brown field sites where a smorgasbord of earthly delights are waiting to be harvested.

In related news, The New York Times wrote an article on the urban foraging debate in New York City’s parks. Access the article here.

What does the city mean to you? Cities have languages unto themselves – built from points of intersection where disparate nodes converge and emerge from collective stories of times past, present and future. Subterranean. At and above ground. Stop. Go. Pause. The City is living and breathing.

Join us TEDxPhilly 2011 –  a unique, one-day multi-disciplinary conference, which examines the vast interpretations of the theme: The City. Engaging speakers, impassioned performers, all star participants and awe-inspiring exhibitors will converge to deconstruct, decipher and explore some of the greatest challenges, innovations, concepts and realities that shape and are shaped by the city and its inhabitants.

Philadelphians will assemble to share ideas that matter, and hopefully, turn those ideas into actionable outcomes after the event. The audience is as important as the presenters and will reflect the many passionate, motivated, and hard-working individuals (you!) who are part of the broader community of Philadelphia.

Tell us about what cities mean to you. Register to attend TEDxPhilly 2011.

Almost an entire year has passed since our inaugural TEDxPhilly last November, but we are beyond thrilled to be returning again this fall! This year’s event will take place on Tuesday, November 8th at Temple Performing Arts Center, located in the heart of North Philadelphia on Temple University’s Campus.

Tickets for TEDxPhilly are now available for purchase. Your ticket price includes a full day of inspiring talks, fascinating conversations, lunch, refreshments and a party, too! We hope that you are able to join us for this special day!