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February 2019
Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City
Essayist and biographer Adina Hoffman writes often of the Middle East, approaching it from unusual angles and shedding light on overlooked dimensions of the place, its people, and their cultures. Her books include House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood, My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century, and Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City, which the Los Angeles Times called “brave and often beautiful” and Haaretz described as…
Find out more »The World is Watching Book Signing
Being Black in America is a journey and a quest for self-affirmation and alliance and place. Black Americans have refused to be acquiescent, and our cry, in the words of Maya Angelou, “And Still We Rise”, has left an indelible imprint at home and abroad. In The World is Watching, notable world figures talk about their personal experiences with African Americans and the impacts these experiences have had on them. Join us for this book signing and discussion which will…
Find out more »March 2019
Disassembled Cities: Social and Spatial Strategies to Reassemble Communities
Join Great Cities Institute for a discussion with the editor, Elizabeth L. Sweet, and several chapter authors of the recently released book Disassembled Cities: Social and Spatial Strategies to Reassemble Communities. Authors in attendance will include Iván Arenas, Associate Director, UIC Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy; Tarini Bedi, Associate Professor, Anthropology; John J. Betancur, Professor, UIC Urban Planning and Policy; Andy Clarno, Associate Professor, Sociology & African American Studies; Teresa Córdova, Director and Professor, UIC Great Cities…
Find out more »April 2019
Living and Dying on the Factory Floor – Book Discussion and Signing
David Ranney’s vivid memoir describes his work experiences between 1976 and 1982 in the factories of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana. The book opens with a detailed description of what it was like to live and work in one of the heaviest industrial concentrations in the world. The author takes the reader on a walk through the heart of the South Side of Chicago, observing the noise, heavy traffic, the 24-hour restaurants and bars, the rich diversity of people on…
Find out more »May 2019
150 years of Jewish Community Building in the City of Budapest
Social Work and Jewish Studies Scholar Zoltan Haberman from ELTE University in Budapest will share his research on trauma, resilience and community building among the Jewish community in Budapest. This community always looked for new paths, was ready for change, but at the same time preserved tradition and the ancient heritage. Dr. Haberman depicts the struggles involved in building and sustaining the Jewish Theological Seminary, and how it has reinvented itself, survived, and progressed over the years. He will show…
Find out more »June 2019
The Jam and Justice Project: Innovative Co-Research to Address Complex Urban Issues
Jam and Justice is a research project which aims to create a unique space for social innovation to co-produce, test and learn from new ways of governing cities. ‘Jam’ is about trying to bring together different partners in the city to innovate to address shared problems. ‘Justice’ is about re-connecting with those who have been disenfranchised and excluded from the search for solutions. We are particularly interested in the value and practice of coproduction to address complex urban problems and…
Find out more »July 2019
Talking to North Korea: Ending the Nuclear Standoff
Despite recents attempts at ‘negotiation’, the attitudes of both Kim Jong-un’s regime and the West seem unchanged. North Korea is still shrouded in mystery, and there are no clear plans for the future ... Can we trust either side to bring about peace? And if so, how? This provocative insider’s account blasts apart the myths which paint North Korea as a rogue state run by a mad leader. Informed by extraordinary access to the country’s leadership, Glyn Ford investigates the…
Find out more »October 2019
National Parks in Your Neighborhood
The National Park Service maintains more than 400 parks, trails, recreation areas, and historic sites...many of which are a lot closer to home than you may realize. On October 8th hear from a National Park Superintendent and Park Service staff on the role the National Park Service has in the Chicago metropolitan region and other urban areas. Paul Labovitz, Superintendent, Indiana Dunes National Park Paul started his National Park Service career in the Rivers & Trails Program and would go…
Find out more »Water Diplomacy and the Water-Energy Nexus
Gidon Bromberg is the co-founder and Israeli Director of EcoPeace Middle East, the only regional organization that brings together and works with Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists. Their main goal is “the promotion of cooperative efforts to protect our shared environmental heritage,” that furthers sustainable development and fosters peace in the region. Ecopeace Middle East’s Water-Energy Nexus Project aims at researching and advocating for a Water and Sustainable Energy Nexus approach to counter the effects of climate change and its…
Find out more »Learning from the Basque Country: Building a Sustainable and Inclusive Society
Join Manufacturing Renaissance and the Great Cities Institute as we learn from and discuss with a delegation from the Basque Country in northern Spain. The Basque Country is the home of Mondragon—a world leader in the development of worker cooperatives.They’ve had deep experience in dramatically increasing the role of workers in developing globally competitive companies. The Basque Country is a semi-autonomous region in northern Spain that represents a model of development that is inspirational and provides an excellent example of…
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