The Twentieth Century witnessed an ambitious range of planning schemes for new towns and capital cities. While these projects were driven by diverse political, economic, and geographic conditions, many of them shared an enthusiasm for landscape as a medium of urbanism. Given the widely documented and generally accepted shortcomings of modern planning, many of these cities are seen as failures in social, environmental, and cultural terms.
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The 1st Topos International Seminar – Landscapes of Power: Reconsidering the Twentieth Century Capital Cities proposes cross-disciplinary discussion into the historical claims, present status, and future potential of those modern capitals, reconsidered in theory and practice. By presenting a range of approaches that include urbanism, architecture, ecology, and social engagement, this symposium will provide an opportunity for imagining future possibilities of contemporary urbanism, and the role of equity in design.
TOPOS - Landscape, Design and Planning (University of Brasília) invites you to participate in the event, scheduled to take place in 22nd, 23rd and 24th of June, 2022, in a 100% online format.
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Enrollment is currently open. The fee for enrollment with certificate is 30 euros. Applications for fee discounts are available and they are explained HERE.
Schedule of Events
(Brasilia time zone)
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022
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Opening Keynote - 2 pm - 4 pm
Prof. Dr. Álvaro Domingues - University of Porto, Portugal
Evening Session - 5pm
Cinema Session
"A rua da estrada", Graça Castanheira, 2012, 35’
"Brasília ano 10", Geraldo Sobral da Rocha, 1970, 11’
​Thursday , June 23rd, 2022
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1st Thematic Session - 9 am - 12 am
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Canberra, Australia
From Federal Capital to Metropolitan City:
Prospect, Power and Paradigm in the Making of Canberra
Prof. Dr. Robert Freestone - University of New South Wales, Australia
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Chandigarh, India
Ecological Urbanism:
The Hydrologics of the Modernist Master Plan of Chandigarh
Prof. Dr. Vikramaditya Prakash - Washington University, USA
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Buenos Aires, Argentina
Facing the Conflict Between Capital and Metropolis:
The 1925 Plan for Buenos Aires
Prof. Dr. Ana Maria Rigotti - University of Rosario, Argentina
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Brasília, Brazil
Brasília and Modernist Void:
Drawing Landscapes of Recognition
Prof. Dr. Luciana Saboia - University of Brasília, Brazil
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Keynote Lecture - 2 pm - 4 pm
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New Towns and National Development in Twentieth-century Brazil
Prof. Dr. Renato Leão Rego - University of Maringá, Brazil
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Evening Session - 5pm
Cinema Session
"Plan para Buenos Aires", Gerardo Panero, 2021, 79’
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Friday, June 24th, 2022 2nd
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2nd Thematic Session - 9 am - 12 am
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Islamabad, Pakistan
Nature-City Dialectics in Doxiadis’s Plan for Islamabad
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Z. Khan - Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
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Ankara, Turkey
Ankara: Challenges of Transformation from a
Medieval Town into a Modern Capital
Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan - Bilkent University and Middle East Technical University, Turkey
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Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria’s National Assembly Complex Abuja: Decolonizing Africa’s Modernity and
Building Epistemes in the Era of Contentious Democratic Movements
Prof. Dr. Nnamdi Elleh - University of Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa
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Brazil
Comparative Perspectives on Brazilian´s Capital Cities
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Trevisan - University of Brasilia, Brazil
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Keynote Lecture - 2 pm - 4 pm
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São Paulo - Metropolis of Urgency
Prof. Arq. Fernando Viégas - Escola da Cidade, Brazil
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Closing Keynote - 5 pm - 7 pm
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Landscape as Urbanism in New National Capitals
Prof. Arq. Charles Waldheim - Harvard University, USA
Keynote Speakers
Álvaro Domingues
Álvaro Domingues (Melgaço, 1959) is a geographer, PhD in Human Geography at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto (1994) and Professor since 1999 at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, FAUP, where he also is a researcher at the Centre for Architecture and Urban Studies CEAU-FAUP. Domingues is also a member of the Scientific Council of FAUP. As a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Architecture and Urbanism of FAUP , has been developing a regular activity of research and publication on projects with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation , with the Foundation for Science and Technology , with the CCDR - N , CCDR - C , with the Xunta of Galicia , with the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Coruña , with Erasmus of Rotterdam University, EURICUR , with Aménagement Club Ville - Paris , with CCCB , Barcelona , with the University of Barcelona - Architecture , with the University Granada - Planning and Urbanism , with the Federal University of S. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , with the Universities of Minho and Coimbra , with the municipalities of Guimaraes and Porto , with the Portuguese Association of Architects, OA , with the Serralves Foundation and the Youth Foundation , among others . In CEAU - FAUP its activity focuses on Human Geography, Landscape , Urbanism and Urban Policy.
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Charles Waldheim
Charles Waldheim is John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he directs the Office for Urbanization. His research concerns the relations between contemporary urbanism, landscape, and ecology. He is author, editor, or co-editor of a dozen books on these topics including Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory and The Landscape Urbanism Reader.
Fernando Viégas
Fernando Felippe Viégas, São Paulo, 1971, Arquiteto e Urbanista formado em 1994 pela Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo (FAUUSP), onde concluiu o Mestrado em 2004. Sócio fundador do escritório Una Arquitetos desde 1996. Coordenador do curso de Pos-graduação da Escola da Cidade "Geografia, Cidade e Arquitetura", desde 2010. Presidente adjunto da Associação Escola da Cidade desde 2019. Sócio fundador do escritório UNA MUNIZVIEGAS desde 2019.
Renato Leão Rego
Dr Rego is professor of modern architecture and town planning history at the State University of Maringá (UEM), Brazil. His current research project focuses on the construction of new towns in developing countries. He has published widely on the diffusion of planning ideas, including the book Ideas for New Towns: Architecture and Urbanism in Twentieth-Century Brazilian Hinterlands [in Portuguese].
1st Thematic Session
Ana Maria Rigotti
Ana Maria Rigotti is rincipal Researcher (CONICET), Honorary Professor UNR, Invited professor UTDT. Founding member of Block, member of SAH, AIHU and EAHN and scientific committees of ARQUISUR, A&P Continuidad, Oculum Ensaios, Pensum, Pós. Anales de Investigación (ORT) y Ensayos/Arquitectura PUCP. Author of books and papers on modern architecture and urban planning history, architectural theory, urbanization processes and housing policies. Curator of architectural and urban exhibitions, and documental archives.
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Luciana Saboia
Luciana Saboia is a Brazilian architect, urbanist and Associate Professor at University of Brasília, Brazil. Visiting researcher at Office for Urbanization at the GSD Harvard, EUA (2017), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2022), and CNPq scholarship researcher (since 2019). Her research and teaching focus on issues of landscape, modernism and social appropriaton in architecture. Saboia’s publications include Post-compact city: design strategies 
from Brasilia (2021), Brasilia 50 +50: city, history and Project (2014).
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Robert Freestone
Robert Freestone is a Professor of Planning in the School of Built Environment in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales. He is a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia, Institute of Australian Geographers, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His books include Designing the Global City (2019), Planning Metropolitan Australia (2018), Urban Nation (2010), Designing Australia’s Cities (2005), Urban Planning in a Changing World (2000), and Model Communities (1989).
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Vikramaditya Prakash
Dr. Vikramaditya “Vikram” Prakash is an architect, architectural historian and theorist. He is Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington with adjunct appointments in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and Planning. He received his B. Arch. from Chandigarh College of Architecture, India and his M.A. and PhD in History of Architecture and Urbanism from Cornell University. Vikram works on issues of modernism, postcoloniality, global hstory and fashion & architecture. His books include Chandigarh’s Le Corbusier: The Struggle for Modernity in Postcolonial India, A Global History of Architecture (with Francis DK Ching & Mark Jarzombek), Colonial Modernities (co-edited with Peter Scriver), The Architecture of Shivdatt Sharma, Chandigarh: An Architectural Guide and One Continuous Line: Art, Architecture and Urbanism of Aditya Prakash. A Global History is widely used as a textbook and being translated into five languages. His next book, A House Deconstructed (co-authored with Mark Jarzombek) is due in winter 2022.
2nd Thematic Session
Ahmed Z. Khan
Ahmed Z. Khan is Professor and Chair Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism at the BATir department of ULB, Brussels, Belgium. He is academic co-coordinator of the international Masters programs in Architectural engineering and Sustainable Urbanism, and founder and
scientific chair of DS2BE (Doctoral Seminar for Sustainability Research in the Built Environment). Dr. Khan’s research activities focus on issues of Sustainability, Climate Change and Spatial Quality at different scales of the built environment with particular interest in exploring Sustainable Urban Futures.
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Ali Cengizkan
Is a professor of architecture and a poet. Graduated from Middle East Technical University, Department of Arhitecture (B.Arch. 1978; M.Arch. 1980; Ph.D. 2000) in Ankara. Chairperson of the Department, 1994-1998; Dean of the Faculty; 2012- 2015. Member of Chamber of Architects, Turkey; SANART; Literature Association; Architects’ Association 1927; CICA; docomomo-int; docomomo-tr; ACE, 2009-2012. Founding Dean of TEDU Faculty of Architecture, with 5 Deparments, 2015-2021. Editor of the bi-lingual, bi-annual scholarly METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture; 2002-2013, http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/ . Mainly focuses on design teaching, criticism and assessment, housing design and history, urban history, and housing design. Has several articles and books on architecture and poetry.
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Nnamdi Elleh
Nnamdi Elleh, Ph.D., the Head of the School of Architecture and Planning in the University of Witwatersrand (WITS), Johannesburg. His publications include African Architecture, Evolution and Transformation (1996), Architecture and Power in Africa (2001), Reading the Architecture of the Underprivileged Classes (2014), and Architecture and Politics in Nigeria (Routledge, 2017). Nnamdi.Elleh@wits.ac.za.
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Ricardo Trevisan
Bachelor of Architect and Urban Design (1998), University of Sao Paulo; Master of Urban Engineering (2003), Federal University of Sao Carlos; PhD in Architecture and Urbanism (2009), University of Brasilia, with an internship (2008) at Ecole d'Architecture Paris-Malaquais (Paris); and Post-Doctorate studies (2015) in Architecture and Urbanism, Columbia University. Adjunct teacher and researcher at the School of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Brasilia. CNPQ Researcher (PQ 2) with the project "Atlas of Brazilian New Cities in Republican period". Member of the Research Group: "Topos - Landscape, Project and Planning – Labeurbe". Local coordinator in the project "Chronology of Urban Thought". Author of "New Cities", CAPES Thesis Award 2010.
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Organizing Committee
Carolina Pescatori
Carolina is an architect and urban planner, professor at FAU-UnB. She holds a PhD in Architecture and Urbanism from FAU-UnB and a Master's in Landscape Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University /USA. Her research addresses urban sprawl from a historical perspective, recognizing important precedents for this phenomenon in urban thinking and professional practice, and critically discussing the role of the private sector.
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Luciana Saboia
Luciana Saboia is a Brazilian architect, urbanist and Associate Professor at University of Brasília, Brazil. Visiting researcher at Office for Urbanization at the GSD Harvard, EUA (2017), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2022), and CNPq scholarship researcher (since 2019). Her research and teaching focus on issues of landscape, modernism and social appropriaton in architecture. Saboia’s publications include Post-compact city: design strategies 
from Brasilia (2021), Brasilia 50 +50: city, history and Project (2014).
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Ricardo Trevisan
Bachelor of Architect and Urban Design (1998), University of Sao Paulo; Master of Urban Engineering (2003), Federal University of Sao Carlos; PhD in Architecture and Urbanism (2009), University of Brasilia, with an internship (2008) at Ecole d'Architecture Paris-Malaquais (Paris); and Post-Doctorate studies (2015) in Architecture and Urbanism, Columbia University. Adjunct teacher and researcher at the School of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Brasilia. CNPQ Researcher (PQ 2) with the project "Atlas of Brazilian New Cities in Republican period". Member of the Research Group: "Topos - Landscape, Project and Planning – Labeurbe". Local coordinator in the project "Chronology of Urban Thought". Author of "New Cities", CAPES Thesis Award 2010.
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Leandro de Sousa Cruz
Leandro Cruz is an architect, graduated from Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Professor at the the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Brasília, where he holds a PhD degree. His research and teaching activities are mainly focused on social housing, urban design and urban landscape.
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Scientific Committee
Cauê Capillé
Cauê Capillé is professor of architecture at UFRJ and PROURB FAU Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Architect and urban planner from FAU UFRJ (2011); PhD in Architecture from Bartlett UCL (2016); Post-Doctorate FAPERJ Grade 10 in PROURB FAU UFRJ (2017-18); Urban Studies Foundation Fellow at ENSA Paris Malaquals (2021-22); Visiting Researcher at the Royal College of Art (2021-22). His research and teaching addresses the relationship between architectural design, political and urban theories, and common urban conditions.
Christine Fontaine
Christine Fontaine is an architect and currently a professor at UCLouvain-LOCI Brussels at the Master level. She has worked in Belgium and Canada. Today, her practice with ZED architects covers the construction of public institutions and social housing. She did a transdisciplinary complementary diploma with a plurifaculty approach to contemporary issues. She organizes multidisciplinary international workshops in Europe, Canada, China and Chile where she has also been engaged as a visiting professor and where she develops research and teaching networks.
David Vanderburgh
David Vanderburgh is Associate Professor of Architectural Design, Theory and History in the Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering, and Urbanism (LOCI) at UCLouvain (B). He is currently Vice-Dean for the Louvain-la-Neuve campus of the Faculty, and Head of Program for the Bachelor Engineer-Architect. Of US origin, he holds degrees from Harvard (AB, Psychology and Social Relations) and Berkeley (M.Arch., PhD in Architecture). His interests in drawing and design have given rise to a number of significant events: exhibitions in 2015 (“Utopia in Progress: La Ciudad Abierta de Almeida”) and 2018 (“Disegno 2018: Mastery and Uncertainty, The Drawings of Architecture), among others, often with workshops and publications associated.
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Guilherme Lassance
Architect, PhD, professor and director of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Professor and researcher at the Graduate Program in Urbanism (Prourb) where he coordinates the research group UrCA – Urbanism, Criticism and Architecture, dedicated to to the study of alternative approaches to the contemporary city, especially in the Global South. Among his publications, he is co-author of the book “Rio Metropolitano: Guia para uma Arquitetura”.
Nari Shelekpayev
Nari Shelekpayev is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University (since July 1, 2022) and Associate Professor, History Department at the European University at St. Petersburg (until June 30, 2022). He holds a PhD from Université de Montréal (2019). His current research project focuses on cultural, political, and urban history of Soviet and post-Soviet Kazakhstan. His other interest include intellectual history, comparative history of empires in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as Soviet and post-Soviet history. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Sciences Po Paris, the 2018 Albert Einstein Fellow at the Einstein Forum and Daimler & Benz Foundation in Potsdam, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris (2021). Nari has published in Urban History (Cambridge), Planning Perspectives, Slavic Review (Cambridge), Russian Review, Ab Imperio, Europe-Asia Studies, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, The Russian Sociological Review​ and other journals.
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Paulo Dam
Paulo Dam Mazzi (Lima, 1968) Doctor in architecture from UCLouvain, Belgium (2009), Principal professor at the Catholic University of Peru in the area of design and theory. He has published as co-author "Post Ilusiones. Nuevas visiones. Arte crítico en Lima 1980-2006" and "Modelando el Mundo. Imágenes de la arquitectura precolombino". He has edited the book "Lacan. Arquitectura". He is a curator of projects that relate to art, architecture and thought. He is coordinator of the Transversal project: Integration Actions of the Peruvian territory(Acciones de Integración del territorio peruano). Since 1995 he has shared university teaching with the critical practice of the architecture project. Since 2014 he has served as Head of the Academic Department of Architecture at PUCP.
Sérgio Marques
Graduated at Architecture and Urbanism from Faculdades Integradas do Instituto Ritter dos Reis (1984) and master in Architecture and Urbanism from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (1999). Has experience in Architecture and Urbanism, focusing on Project of Architecture and Urbanism, acting on the following subjects: contemporary architecture, architectural education, modern architecture.
Maria do Carmo de Lima Bezerra
Graduated at Architecture and Urbanism from Faculdades Integradas Architect and Urban Planner from the Federal University of Ceará, she holds a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Brasília and a PhD in Urban Environmental Structures from the University of São Paulo. Postdoctoral researcher at AAP, Cornell Univiersity, USA (2009-2010) and at DUyOT at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Maria do Carmo is a Full Professor at the University of Brasília, working at the Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism since 1996. She is currently the recipient of a Research Productivity Grant - PQ / CNPQ and leads the Research Group on Urban Environmental Management (UnB / CNPq). As a researcher, she has been working on Urban Land Regularization Projects, Urban and Regional Planning, Green Infrastructure, Mobility, Sustainable Drainage and Environmental Assessment, topics on which she has published several articles in journals and organized National and International Congresses.