Join us for our first 2011 Urban Affairs Forum where we will be discussing ‘the media-cracy of design’. What is the role of media? How can/does design become a public debate? How is awareness generated and, does it matter? How does public perception (and media’s depiction) influence the design process + outcomes?

For good or bad, it is well recognized that design is a political matter – who designs? With what resources? What gets approved (or not) at Council? – are all political debates that affect the life of designers, and the outcomes we experience every day. Similarly, it is well recognized that the media has an influence on the political process – on what becomes politicized and how. Thus, we are obliged to ask, how does the media influence design matters?

True to the Heisenberg Principle of Observation, whereby “...every event is changed by the observation of that event . . .” should the media be a tool of the design professions? Should we embrace the political nature of design and campaign through all means possible – closing ranks with news editors, reports, columnists, bloggers, tweeters . . . ? Should we unabashedly deploy the power of the media to advocate a culture of design?

MODERATOR | David Michael Lamb, CBC Radio World Report

GUESTS | Christopher Hume, Architecture Critic and Urban Issues Columnist, Toronto Star | John Bentley Mays, Visual Arts and Architecture Critic for The Globe and Mail and a columnist for the National Post | Matthew Blackett, Publisher and Creative Director, Spacing Magazine | Alex Bozikovic, Journalist and Critic on Architecture and Design, editor Globe & Mail