¿SUSTAINABLE? - a symposium series
Beyond rhetoric: The contradictions of sustainability
¿SUSTAINABLE? assumes the form of a conference format that critically interrogates the notion of sustainability. With a specific focus on landscape, communities, the built environment, and design, it promotes perspectives that deconstruct commonplaces and critically scrutinize claims of sustainability.
Its objective is to identify genuinely sustainable practices and projects as well as practices and projects that ultimately prove to be non-sustainable. Invited speakers will present case studies of best and worst practices and engage in an open and transparent debate. the initiative brings together leading thinkers and practitioners from institutions that include Harvard University, Politecnico di Milano, TU Delft, University of Pennsylvania, Illinois Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, Northeastern University, SCI-ARC Los Angeles, Berkeley, MIT, ETH Zürich, Tsinghua University, and Yale University.
- Time
- –
- Location
- Virtual
¿SUSTAINABLE?
A Spring 2026 Online Symposium Series
Launching in the Spring 2026 semester, **¿SUSTAINABLE? ** is a five-part online symposium series that critically interrogates the notion of sustainability across landscape architecture, design, urban planning, and environmental studies. Structured as a sequence of focused conversations, the series asks whether, how, and for whom current practices can truly be called “sustainable,” and what kinds of frameworks are needed to move beyond rhetorical claims toward more rigorous, accountable approaches.
The series will take place as five online symposia, each organized around a distinct thematic focus:
- Lands and Communities (March 2, 2026)
- Landscape Architecture (March 18, 2026)
- Design and Data (March 30, 2026)
- The Built Environment (April 28, 2026)
- Waterscapes (May 28, 2026)
Each symposium is divided into two sessions, each lasting one hour and twenty minutes, and will take place online starting at 11:30 AM (ET|EDT) — 5:30 PM (CET|CEST).
Across the five events, a total of 25–30 critical talks will be delivered by 5–6 guests per symposium, each offering an incisive perspective. Speakers will deliver 15-minute talks supported by visual materials and grounded in specific projects, practices, and processes that they consider both sustainable and unsustainable. These case studies of “best” and “worst” practices are intended to open an honest conversation about the limits, blind spots, and contradictions of sustainability as it is currently theorized and implemented.
Concept and Aims
¿SUSTAINABLE? adopts a conference format explicitly designed to challenge received ideas and comfortable assumptions about sustainability. With a particular emphasis on landscapes, communities, the built environment, and design, the series promotes perspectives that:
- Deconstruct commonplace narratives of sustainability
- Critically scrutinize institutional and professional claims of sustainable practice
- Identify both genuinely sustainable and demonstrably non-sustainable practices and projects
Rather than celebrating “sustainability” as a self-evident good, the series invites speakers to expose contradictions and failures, to test prevailing metrics and standards, and to question which social, ecological, political, and economic dimensions are foregrounded—or ignored—when sustainability is invoked.
Participants and Institutions
The symposia will bring together leading thinkers and practitioners from a range of international institutions, including:
- Harvard University
- Politecnico di Milano
- TU Delft
- University of Pennsylvania
- National University of Singapore
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Northeastern University
- SCI-Arc Los Angeles
- Tsinghua University
- University of California, Berkeley
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- ETH Zürich
- Yale University
In tightly focused 15-minute presentations, speakers will articulate their own distinctive critical stance on the promises and limitations of sustainability within their domain of expertise. By juxtaposing diverse disciplinary approaches and geographic contexts, the series aims to illuminate how sustainability is differently conceptualized, instrumentalized, and contested.
Contribution and Broader Impact
The ¿SUSTAINABLE? symposium series seeks to contribute to the formulation of a more precise theoretical vocabulary and framework capable of reframing public and professional discussions of sustainability. It aims to:
- Bring students, scholars, scientists, architects, designers, and planners into a serious, sustained critical conversation
- Clarify the criteria by which sustainability is evaluated in projects, policies, and practices
- Support the development of more robust, transparent, and accountable foundations for future debates and decisions
Crucially, to critically interrogate the field’s contradictions is not to diminish the urgency of sustainability. On the contrary, by exposing inconsistencies and challenging superficial or performative uses of the term, the series seeks to reclaim sustainability’s importance on the global stage. Through rigorous critique and open debate, ¿SUSTAINABLE? aspires to strengthen the conceptual, ethical, and practical underpinnings of sustainability for the decades ahead.
Attendance
No registration required; all are welcome to attend. To join the webinars, please use the following Zoom link:
NOTE: All five events will use the same link
