PREFACE

Abstract

The Planned World: Urban, Rural, Wild Conference took place over two beautiful summer days in early August,
2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As with The City: Culture, Society, Technology Conference, held in
November, 2009, the conference days proved to be invigorating, stimulating, and full of exciting exchange from
participants in varied disciplines who were all interested in the same notion of how the world we live in exists as
planned space.
The Planned World Conference was a small and intimate event with about twenty papers presented by speakers from
a variety of countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United States, South Africa, Canada, and Egypt. One
thing we learned was that though we live in very different places with different social and cultural worlds, we share
many of the same concerns about how the world is a planned place. The conference featured a special lecture by
Patrick Y. Foong Chan from Architecture for Humanity Vancouver, as well as a roundtable discussion lead by
Architecture for Humanity Vancouver members Linus Lam, Neal LaMontagne, Theresa Fresco, and Patrick Y.
Foong Chan. Rounding out our program was a special screening of Yung Chang’s multiple award winning National
Film Board of Canada documentary feature film Up the Yangtze.
When we launched Interdisciplinary Themes in 2009 our goals were modest: we wanted to bring together scholars,
students, and practitioners, from around the world to engage in interdisciplinary and international exchange. The
first two conferences have reinforced our resolve to continue developing Interdisciplinary Themes as much as our
careers as university professors, administrators, and researchers, allows. The two groups of scholars, students, and
practitioners that we have hosted at the first two conferences demonstrated to us beyond expectations the
invigorating potential that arises when one brings together individuals from around the world.
As we look forward to The City: 2nd International Conference, which will be held in Vancouver in May 2011, we
also reflect about The Planned World Conference in the selection of excellent papers from the conference that are
published in this special issue of our journal.
Christian Riegel, Ph.D., Conference Coordinator
Katherine Robinson, Ph.D., Project Coordinator
Interdisciplinary Themes Conferences & Publishing