!ATTN: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE URBAN HUMANISTS

URBAN HUMANITIES — GLOBAL (UN)CONFERENCE 2

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI | OCTOBER 16-18, 2025

(Un)Conference Schedule Overview

A detailed program will be shared in late August.

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Thursday, October 16
8:30-9:30a: Check-in/Registration, Breakfast & Coffee (provided)
9:30-10:00a: Welcome
10:00-11:30a: Pre-workshops (concurrent sessions)
11:30a-1:00p: Lunch (provided)
1:00-2:30p: Pre-workshops (concurrent sessions)
4:00-6:00p: Lighting talks

Friday, October 17
8:30-9:00a: Breakfast & Coffee (provided)
9:00-11:00a: Experiential & Site-Specific Sessions (Concurrent Sessions)
12:00-1:00p: Lunch (provided)
1:00-2:00p: Mini-Workshops
(Concurrent Sessions)
2:00-3:00p: Mini-Workshops
(Concurrent Sessions)
4:00-6:00p: Poster Session

Saturday, October 18
8:30-9:30a: Breakfast & Coffee (provided)
9:30a-12:00p: Experiential, Site-Specific, and Mini-Workshop sessions
(Concurrent Sessions)
12:00-1:00p: Lunch
1:00-2:30p: Roundtables
(Concurrent Sessions)
2:30-4:00p: Roundtables
(Concurrent Session)
4:00-8:00p: Keynote, dinner & celebration

Sunday, October 19
(4-hours) Time - TBA: Optional Mississippi River canoe trip with Big Muddy
(limited seats, additional costs required; registration coming soon)

Hotel Block Registration: Coming Soon

We are pleased to offer a range of session formats designed to foster engagement, dialogue, and exchanges. Each format invites participants to actively engage with the presenters and materials in unique way:

  • Site-specific & Experiential Sessions: These sessions extend beyond the traditional conference and into the St. Louis region -- offering place-based experiences that ground ideas in the region. Engage with research and methodologies in situ, through walking tours, installations, field activities, and on-site investigations.

  • Pre-Workshop: Designed for focused engagement, these sessions begin with pre-circulated materials—papers, syllabi, project briefs, or design research—distributed in advance. Participants come prepared for thoughtful, focused dialogue, offering a space to engage peers in meaningful critique, reflection, and discussion around evolving work.

  • Mini-Workshop: These interactive, hands-on sessions introduce participants to new tools, methods, practices, or approaches. Through guided activities and collaborative exercises, attendees will gain practical insight into emerging methodologies.

  • Public roundtable discussions: Each roundtable speaker will begin with brief remarks framing their perspectives, followed by an open-ended, self-directed discussion. Audience engagement is central—participants are encouraged to contribute questions, ideas, and provocations that help shape the evolving conversation

  • Lightning talks: These 5-minute, high-energy presentations showcase a range of work—from early-stage research and in-progress scholarship to experimental initiatives and project pitches. This format is ideal for surfacing emerging ideas, testing concepts, and identifying potential collaborators in a dynamic, fast-paced setting.

  • Poster Session: The poster session will open with a focused discussion on experimental exhibitions, offering critical insight into urban humanities focused exhibitions. Following this, attendees are invited to engage directly with poster presenters in an open, conversational format.

List of Registered Participants

  • Åbo Akademi University

  • Black Heritage Society of Eufaula, AL

  • Cal Poly Pomona

  • California State University, Channel Islands

  • California State University, Fresno

  • Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX)

  • Champlain College

  • Columbia University

  • Concordia University

  • Florida International University

  • Gabriela Los Angeles

  • Harvard University

  • Hunter College

  • IDEO

  • Independent planning and economic development practitioner

  • James Madison University

  • Kwantlen Polytechnic University

  • Lawrence Technological University

  • Miami University

  • Office Of: Office

  • The Ohio State University

  • Place It

  • Princeton University

  • Queen Mary University of London

  • Royal College of Art

  • San Francisco State University

  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago

  • Southern California Association of Governments

  • The New School; Laboratory for Urban Spatial and Landscape Research

  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • Universite Sorbonne Paris Nord

  • University College London

  • University College of the North

  • University of Arizona

  • University of Arkansas-Fort Smith

  • University of California, Los Angeles

  • University of California, Berkley

  • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • University of Colorado Boulder

  • University of Manitoba

  • University of Michigan

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • University of Notre Dame

  • University of Southern California

  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

  • Vanderbilt University

  • Velaslavasay Panorama

  • Wabash College

  • Walking Cinema

  • Washington University in St. Louis

  • Wayne State University

  • Yale University

Registration information coming soon for attendees.

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