A TAG Talk by Prof. Julio Cesar Perez Hernandez, University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture.
Planning is foreseeing, planning is about the future. We cannot know the future, but we can and should design for it. The world needs a new unified urban paradigm upon facing unprecedented challenges that put at risk the future of mankind. We need to address a stable and rewarding (i.e. sustainable) relationship between Man and Nature and reassess how we live together (i.e. urbanism) and how we build (i.e. architecture) according to valid traditions based on sustainable principles.
The new unified urban paradigm should revisit how urban and architectural design can help humans conceptualize and fabricate their relationship with Nature —the way people turn space into place and construct a human-made environment. It should also emphasize the role of design, as the “art of the contingent” to help humanity respond to emerging challenges derived from climate change since it is — at its core—always about adjusting ideal models and values to specific physical locations and cultural contexts and give them a proper authenticity and identity.
Several Case Studies (urban plans for several cities in the world) will illustrate the Theoretical Framework for A New Unified Urban Paradigm.
Architect and Urban Planner, Julio Cesar Perez Hernandez is an accomplished leader, educator, visionary, historian, and published author considered a world-class expert in Cuban architecture and urbanism. He is currently a Professor at the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture since 2017.
Author of the books “The Tradition of Courtyards in Cuban Architecture” published by Andelani Press in 2025, and both “Inside Havana” (2011), “Inside Cuba” (2004) published by Taschen Editorial, he has also penned numerous professional articles published in international journals.
He is the author of “A Master Plan for 21st Century Havana”, a comprehensive urban plan registered at the Library of Congress in 2006, among other urban plans for other cities and neighborhoods. As a practitioner he is the founding Principal and Creative Director of Caesar Studio | Architects & Planners, a successful international practice ranging from architecture to urban planning and design with a focus on excellence.
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