PROVIDENCE – The Better World by Design conference, now in its fourth year, is slated for Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.
The student-organized conference, founded by Brown University’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, attracted more than 1,000 attendees last year – students and professionals – to Providence with the common goal of “reshaping our built environment.”
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At the summit, engineers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics and students share ideas on how to produce change locally and globally.
For the 2011 conference, panel discussions ranging from zero energy architecture to infographics and animation are on the agenda, as well as workshops and tours, including the city farm tour. Evening events – a mixer and a gala – are also scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday.
Eleven speakers are scheduled to present, including: David Perkes, founding director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio; Peter Haas, founder of the nonprofit Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group; Panthea Lee, co-founder of Reboot, a firm dedicated to improving the services, programs and investments of socially minded institution. Wolfgang Feist, the originator of the Passivhaus concept and methodology, one of the most rigorous standards for energy efficiency in building, will participate through teleconferencing.
Early-bird tickets are on sale until Sept. 1 on the website, with prices ranging from $20 to $200 (and $25 to $250 after Sept. 1). An open student design competition is also underway until Sept. 1; its challenge – with a $1,000 prize attached – is “how to preserve coastal communities in the face of increasing threats from rising sea levels, natural disasters and climate change.”
The Friday speaker session will be held on the Rhode Island School of Design’s campus, and the Saturday and Sunday speaker sessions will be on Brown’s campus.
The social events will be held at Providence’s Anchor business incubator, 42 Rice St., and Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket.
