Radical Optimism: Exploring the Next Generation of Urban Infrastructure

Radical Optimism: Exploring the Next Generation of Urban Infrastructure, is grounded in a clear position: this is not about imagining better cities, but about designing the financial, civic, and operational systems that make them possible—and durable.

In a moment defined by climate urgency, technological acceleration, and geopolitical uncertainty, RADICAL OPTIMISM convenes leaders across architecture, landscape, planning, engineering, policy, and development to reassert agency in shaping the public realm. This event moves beyond diagnosis toward action: exploring practical frameworks, civic tools, and collaborative strategies that transform disruption into opportunity. Together, we will design not from fear of what’s coming, but from conviction about what we can build.

This full-day symposium will facilitate a dynamic, forward-looking series of discussions designed to examine how our multi-disciplinary processes are evolving to meet the current and future challenges of the urban realm. Read the full program here.

Schedule:
9 am: Welcome
9:15: Opening Keynote
9:45: Infrastructure as Landscape: The New Civic Operating System
11:15:The Economics of Optimism
Lunch
1:30: Governance as Design
3:00: Stewardship is the New Design
4:15: Closing Keynote
4:45: Closing Remarks

This program is the annual joint symposium of: American Society of Landscape Architects New York, American Institute of Architects New York, and The American Planning Association's New York Metro Chapter.