Mikael Colville-Andersen: Urbanism in Times of War & Crisis

Join us in person for an exciting talk with Mikael Colville-Andersen at the University of Alberta
In this keynote, Mikael Colville-Andersen draws on his urbanist observations about pandemic response and from living and volunteering in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion to explore what cities reveal about themselves when systems fail. When the power goes out, when supply chains fracture, when missiles fly, it is not the smart dashboard that keeps a city running — it is the sidewalk, the bicycle, the local food network, the neighbour who knows your name.

Blending global observations from COVID-19 with front line dispatches from wartime Ukraine, this talk examines how urban life contracts, adapts and rebuilds under pressure. It challenges our reflex toward techno-optimism and argues that true resilience lies in human-scale design, walkability, proximity, and low-tech infrastructure that cannot crash or be hacked.

As the climate crisis accelerates, prevention alone is no longer enough. The urgent question is how we mitigate its impact on daily urban life. This keynote offers a clear, provocative framework for future-proofing our cities — not through complexity, but through fundamentals.
This event is delivered in partnership with the University of Alberta Sustainability Council. To support this and other programming like it, donate here.

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Host or Publisher Councillor Michael Janz