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APT LA 2009
November 2-6, 2009
Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles
The Conference will address the scientific, engineering and technical ramifications of preserving the modern metropolis and its expansive body of historic resources through the four Conference tracks in the program.
Los Angeles represents the quintessential American city of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Technological and social changes allowed an interconnected, yet scattered, collection of towns and villages to grow (sprawl) into one of the world’s major metropolitan regions comprising five counties; more than 200 towns, cities, and municipalities; and more than 15 million residents. At the hub of this metropolitan agglomeration, Los Angeles invites rigorous debate between those seeing an urban utopia—complete with fast cars, movies stars, high-tech jobs, surf boards, fruit orchards, and mountain resorts—and those who envision a dystopian nightmare of race riots, air pollution, traffic jams, endless sprawl, and rapidly increasing density. Somewhere in the middle, for better or worse, lies the real Los Angeles, the model for the post-war 20th century American metropolis and (sometimes considered jaded) blueprint for the World City.
Now that we have moved into the 21st Century, both philosophical and pragmatic questions arise regarding the conservation and management of the World City that we will explore...
* How do we wisely use and improve a now historic built environment that was conceived under a set of assumptions that are no longer sustainable?
* How do we evaluate decisions as to whether or not preserve materials that were not designed for permanence and, and, if so, how?
* What constitutes appropriate technology in a world where the pace of technology development is increasing and where technological tools that once took generations to change now evolve day-by-day?
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