Ventspils Amatnieku square

Jelgava, Latvia

Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies

Richard Sennet 

Lecturer 11

Richard Sennet is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Professor of Humanities at the New York University. He is the author of some of the most stirring and penetrating essays of our time, taking on such subjects as the current decisive changes occurring in our workplaces, within the family and among social classes. His essay The corrosion of character (W.W. Northon & Co, 1999) won the European Sociology Award and worldwide acclaim. He has also won the Amalfia and Ebert awards for sociology. Sennett is also known for his studies on social connections in urban environments and the affects on urban life on today’s world. On this topic are the books Flesh and stone. The body and the city in Western civilization (Faber & Faber, 1994) and The uses of disorder. Personal identity and city life (Faber & Faber, 1996). The last years he has researched on the impact of capitalism in contemporary life and culture and, on this topic, he has published The Culture of the New Capitalism (Yale University Press, 2006), The Crafstman (Yale University Press, 2009) and Together. The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Co-operation (Yale University Press, 2012), amongst others.

Colleen Mercer-Clarke

 

Lecturer 11

She has been announced as the recipient of the 2019 International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) President’s Award at the World Congress in Oslo, Norway. Colleen's work on planning and design for a changing world has a special focus on adaptive planning in coastal communities. Colleen has over 30 years’ experience in the private sector as a senior environmental manager working on a wide array of initiatives throughout Eastern and Atlantic Canada and internationally. Trained as both a marine ecologist (B.Sc, M.Sc., Memorial 1976) and landscape architect (M.L.A., Guelph 1987), her early work focused on environmental planning, assessment and management, including coastal, watershed and municipal planning, site design and conservation of special places. Colleen has contributed to regional national and international development of coastal policies, programs and institutions that advance the principles of precaution, stewardship and sustainability. She is an experienced team leader, skilled in the facilitation of complex meetings.  Colleen left consulting in 2005, completing aDoctorate in interdisciplinary studies (Dalhousie 2010) as well as Post Doctoral studies (Memorial 2011) in coastal governance, coastal health and impending climate change. Since 2009, she has participated in research-community-government teams working across Canada and in the Caribbean on coastal preparedness for environmental changes associated with shifting climate and extreme weather events. Colleen leads the CSLA Task Force on Adaptation and Chairs the IFLA Working Group on Climate Change, continuing her commitment to the sustainability of nearshore environments and communities. 

 

Martha Schwartz

Lecturer 11

Landscape architect and artist with a major interest in urban projects, creating public realm spaces that engage with people, and build community through intelligent, focused, yet unexpected ideas-based design. Her background is in both fine arts and landscape architecture and is a Professor In Practice at The Harvard Graduate School of Design where she has taught since 1992. Her mission is to explore the relationship between landscape, art and culture and challenge traditional concepts of landscape design; find opportunities where landscape design solutions can enhance the social, environmental, and economic sustainability of a place and raise them to a level of fine art; and make landscape design critical to the sustainability of our surroundings. Martha has over 29 years of experience as a landscape architect and artist collaborating with a variety of world-renowned architects on a diverse portfolio of projects. She holds a Doctor of Science (DSc) from the University of Ulster, and is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the Cooper- Hewitt Museum National Design Award for her body of work in Landscape Architecture, an honorary fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects, several design awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, and visiting residencies at Radcliffe College and the American Academy in Rome of which she is a Fellow. She has lectured both nationally and internationally about the landscape with her work featuring widely in publications as well as gallery exhibitions.

Antoni Falcon

Lecturer 2 

Master gardener and specialist technician for the School of Gardening and Landscape Nicolau M. Rubió i Tudurí, diploma at the École Technique Horticole d'Orleans, diploma at the École Nationale Supérieure du Paysage de Versailles, and a diploma in Edaphology and Phytogenetics from the University of Barcelona. Master in Management Function in Local Administrations and in Senior Management of Business by the Higher School of Business Administration and Management (ESADE).

Ramón Torra

Born in Barcelona, 1955 ETSAB-trained architect. He is Director of Public Space Services of the Council of Barcelona Municipalities and a member of the Technical Team of the Barcelona Metropolitan Territorial Planning Commission. From 1982 to 1992 he was Director of the Territorial Area of Granollers Town Council. He drafted the General Plan of Granollers and various planning and project designs for public space.