With one of the most complex and fascinating cities in the world as her playground, Gabriella Gómez-Mont directs Laboratorio para la Ciudad, Mexico City’s new creative think tank and experimental space. Laboratorio is a place to reflect on all things city, and ponder social scripts and urban futures—from the speculative (even outlandish) to the practical—for the largest megalopolis on the American continent.
Laboratorio came about through a personal invitation from Mexico City Mayor Dr. Miguel Angel Mancera to incorporate the city-lab concept into the city’s official structure for the next six years. This novel initiative will support creativity and civic innovation through the different layers of government and social space, intermingled. Looking to imagine new urban (im)possibilities, further collaboration, and discover provocative ways of thinking and creating the city, Laboratorio brings people together from different sectors and disciplines (urbanists, artists, scientists, architects, government officials, sociologists, economists, etc.). It also induces multi-platform conversations, invents and implements pilot programs, and creates editorial projects and other initiatives and strategies—all with the aim of injecting good ideas into the city’s system.
In addition to directing Laboratorio para la Ciudad, Gabriella is a multilingual writer, visual artist, documentary film director, cultural advisor, and arts curator. She has founded several projects such as Toxico Cultura, Cine Abierto, and Laboratorio Curatorial 060, for which she has won several international awards and recognitions, including the Prince Claus Fund (Holland), the Best Art Practice Award (Italy), and an IMCINE National Film Grant (Mexico). She is a City 2.0 TED Prize grant awardee, TED senior fellow, Yale world fellow, and Fabrica ex alumnus.
Urban Evolution or Intelligent Design?
Traditionally, urban centers have grown around specific need: sustenance, trade and commerce, manufacturing, governance. Today, cities evolve around centers of critical information. How do you build a city for the 21st century? Should conventional urban specialization continue? Or do we need to start examining the opportunities posed by letting the urban garden run wild? Jennifer Bradley of the Brookings Institution, Justin Fox of the Harvard Business Review, Gabriella Gómez-Mont of the City Laboratory of Mexico City, the World Bank's Pedro Ortiz, and Columbia University's Saskia Sassen discuss. Watch video and read the complete transcript here.
Conferences
Detroit 14
On September 16th, Techonomy returns to Detroit for our third annual Techonomy Detroit conference. We will continue the series of conversations we began at our first Techonomy Detroit in 2012 on how technology can boost U.S. economic growth, job creation and urban revival.
Conferences
Techonomy 13
A new society is coming into being. People around the world are building it using the rapidly-evolving tools of technology.
