ACTIONING SUMMIT 2: How to speed up the response to urgent crises (in facing the eviction and housing crisis)

The second ACTIONING SUMMIT gathers experts working across activism, design, housing, politics and urban planning to share responses and approaches to various housing crises. ACTIONING SUMMIT 2 invites Carles Baiges (Lacol), Ada Colau, Renato Cymbalista (FICA), and Barika Williams (ANHD) to Columbia GSAPP, with interventions by Juan Herreros (GSAPP, estudio Herreros), Adam Lubinsky (GSAPP, WXY), Hilary Sample (GSAPP, MOS), and Tom Slater (GSAPP)

Carles Baiges Camprubí is an architect from ETSAB-UPC in Barcelona and has a Master’s degree in Urban Sociology from Universiteit van Amsterdam. He is one of the founding members of the cooperative of architects Lacol and member of La Borda cooperative housing. Lacol has been awarded with several recognitions, including the Emerging category of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Awards 2022, and has been selected in the biennials of architecture in Venice (2016, 2021), Buenos Aires (2017) and San Sebastián (2019). La Borda has also won the European Collective Housing Award and was awarded at the European Responsible Housing Awards and the World Habitat Award.

Ada Colau Ballano served as the first female mayor in Barcelona, from 2015-2023. She has dedicated much of her career to social and human-rights activism. She helped launch the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) in 2009. In 2014, she founded Guanyem Barcelona (Barcelona en Comú), the citizens’ political party that won the municipal elections in 2015. In 2019 she was re-elected Mayor of Barcelona.

At the City Council, she prioritizes public policies focused on the fight against inequalities, the right to decent housing, the launch of a more sustainable city model, and the strengthening of citizen participation. She has also shown her commitment to regulating the impact of tourism, fostering a more diverse, inclusive, and green economy and improving public services. Feminism, solidarity, and the promotion of diversity also play a central role in her municipal policies.

In addition to serving as Mayor and President of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), she served as the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) special envoy for relations between cities and the United Nations, and Vice Chair of the C40 Steering Committee, the governing body providing strategic direction for the global network of 97 cities committed to addressing the climate crisis.

Renato Cymbalista is an architect and planner. He is professor of the School of Architecture, Urbanism and Design at the University of São Paulo. In 2023 he is a Mercator Fellow in the Identity and Heritage PhD Program in the universities TU Berlin and Bauhaus Weimar. He is one of the directors of FICA, the first anti-gentrification real estate fund in Brazil. FICA was present in the 11th São Paulo Architecture Biennial, the 3rd Chicago Architecture Biennial and the 7th Iberoamerican Design Bienal in Madrid. FICA has received the Scroll of Honor Award by UN Habitat, and the prize 100 best NGOs in Brazil in 2023.

Barika X Williams is the Executive Director of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development Inc. (ANHD), a leading nonprofit focused on creating housing and economic justice for all New Yorkers. She is a leader and a national voice on how community development in marginalized neighborhoods can advance racial justice.

Previously, Williams held the position of Assistant Secretary for Housing under the Governor of New York State. In this role, she oversaw pivotal housing initiatives for the state, including the management of a $20 billion housing plan and expanding tenant protections throughout New York. Her professional journey also took her along the path of Real Estate development. At the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, and later at NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, she pioneered novel projects and published on topics including affordable housing practices, foreclosure prevention, disaster recovery, and the links between health, education, and housing.

Barika earned a Master’s Degree in City Planning from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2020, the American Planning Association of New York honored her with the Robert W. Ponte Award, recognizing her dedication to creating a more equitable built environment in NYC, that understands systemic racism’s intersection with place and community. She was listed among the top 100 nonprofit executives in City & State New York magazine, showcasing her leadership in the sector. In 2023, City & State New York magazine identified Barika as one of the most influential individuals working in New York real estate. Most recently, Barika was featured on the ‘Power Players in Real Estate’ list by Politics NY and amNY Metro.

Currently, Ms. Williams is a member of the US Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity. She is also a member of various financial institutions’ advisory committees including Capital One and sits on the Board of Urban Design Forum.

The ACTIONING SUMMITS are an unprecedented effort to affirm how architecture, planning, development, and preservation are anticipating desirable and alternative futures. During a period of eight months, these summits will convene activists, architects, artists, designers, developers, ethnographers, historians, planners, policymakers, politicians, thinkers, and community organizers from around the world to address together eight crucial methodological shifts in the way the disciplines of the built environment operate and collaborate with each other.

The summits will offer a space and opportunity to situate specialized knowledge within specific histories and contexts. During the ACTIONING SUMMITS, participants will discuss a concrete methodological shift elaborated through the tools, practices, protocols, and forms of engagement that have unfolded as part of specific projects or processes they have actively participated in.

Please visit GSAPP’s event calendar to learn more about each ACTIONING SUMMIT. All summits will be live streamed on GSAPP’s YouTube channel.

The ACTIONING SUMMITS are curated by Andrés Jaque, Dean, and Bart-Jan Polman, Director of Exhibitions and Public Programming and Curator of the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery.

This event content is equivalent to 1.5 AIA/CES total learning credit. Please contact events@arch.columbia.edu for more information.

Columbia University campus access is restricted to Columbia affiliates (with a valid CUID) and to pre-approved guests. To attend an event at GSAPP, please register through the link below at least two business days in advance of the event to request campus access and bring your ID. Learn more about the current Columbia campus access.

Register here to attend ACTIONING SUMMIT 2.