Symposium: arquitecturas de buen-vivir planetario

re:arc institute’s third symposium—arquitecturas de buen-vivir planetario—pays homage to the Andean concept of “buen vivir,” which expresses a symbiotic existential relationship between nature and humanity. This ancient indigenous value system reveres the fundamental interconnectedness of all life, expressed through a holistic and integrated approach to solidarity and the fundamental rights of every organism in an ecosystem. Rooted in this point of departure, our program explores interdisciplinary methods for moving away from extractive and isolating relationalities and towards spatial practices informed by discourse, reciprocity, and harmony. The program welcomes a plurality of perspectives across geographies and cultural contexts in order to support hyperlocal pathways towards new planetary collectivities. 

The symposium will open with a rhythmic meditation rooted in the Colombian tradition of Bullerengue, facilitated by Bulla en el Barrio. Our first conversation  From Poetry to Practice: A Language for the In-Between will share thoughts on poetics and/of possibility, grounded in collective practices and territorial entanglements with an intergenerational exchange between creative urbanist, Gabriella Gomez Mont, Colombian environmental organizer, Josefina Klinger, sociologist Alanis Bello and architect Pedro Aparicio. The afternoon will also include presentations by practitioners representing seven spatial practices from around the world, focusing on their diverse and interdisciplinary methods for planetary visioning. For these presentation sessions we will be joined by Arquitectura Expandida (Bogota), Social Design Collaborative (Delhi), Arquitetura Na Periferia (São Paulo), Kounkuey Design Initiative (Nairobi/LA),Taller Capital (Mexico City), Oru (Mexico City), and Region Austral (Córdoba). 

To close the symposium, a panel discussion with G.A.G.G.A, African Biodiversity Network, Organizmo, and Catalytic Communities brings together perspectives around the meanings and potential manifestations of land rights from various cultural positions and scales. Panelists will consider models of collective land ownership and issues of biodiversity, as well as legal, ethical, and gender-based frameworks for positioning civic relations between humans and nature. The evening will close with a long table dinner. 

The program will take place in Bogotá, Colombia on March 2, 2024 from 11:30am–8pm at Museo El Chico. Sessions will be facilitated in English and Spanish, with live translation available. Visit the Eventbrite page here.