Symposium Date: October 28-29, 2025
Location: Dallas, Texas (in-person)
​
URBAN MORPHOSIS: Reimagining Cities through Adaptation
​
Cities are reinventing themselves in real time. Post-pandemic work patterns, generative AI economies, accelerating climate disaster impact events, and a nationwide affordability crisis are disrupting and, at the same time, opening new pathways to a more resilient urban future. The 2025 RUDC Symposium asks: What design, policy, and financial innovations can turn today's volatility and challenges in cities into a durable and sustainable urban form for the future?
​
Hosted by the AIA Regional and Urban Design Knowledge Community (RUDC), the symposium features fast-paced talks and dialogue with architects, urban designers, planners, technologists, community advocates, investors, and others. Speakers will deliver 10 to 12-minute presentations that address one of the four focused themes outlined below, each framed by open questions that reflect the pressing challenges of 2025.
Theme 1: Downtowns After Disruption — Converting Vacancy to Vitality
Remote and hybrid work have drained downtowns, vacating millions of square feet of office space while urban housing shortages hit record highs. How can cities transform half-empty towers, declining retail centers, underused streets, and parking lots into walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented centers? What fiscal and regulatory tools can accelerate reuse without fueling displacement? How do new, more flexible workspaces emerge with other uses? As municipal budgets feel the loss of commuter revenue, how might new value-capture models, district ground-rent schemes, reimagination of retail centers, or AI-informed tax frameworks stabilize city finances and public transit?
​
Theme 2: Social Infrastructure Reimagined — Designing for Health and Community
Loneliness is now labeled a public-health epidemic, climate emergencies are straining civic infrastructure, and digital communications have become as essential as water. How can next-generation civic assets, such as libraries, resilience hubs, parks, and sacred spaces, weave health services, climate refuge, and connectivity into everyday life? Which metrics should guide public and private investment, and what stewardship models ensure these civic assets remain trusted, accessible, and financially sustainable? How can we leverage the existing civic infrastructure to positively inform in-person, connected communities through adaptive design?
​
Theme 3: Mobility Futures — Aligning Land Use, Transit, and Climate Goals
Polycentric metros are shifting from hub-and-spoke commuting to multi-directional, multimodal travel, often faster than their transit systems can adapt. How can zoning reform, machine-learning route optimization, and low-carbon freight corridors combine to achieve access at the scale of an entire region? How are public transit entities leveraging their existing networks and landholdings to foster new strategies for growth? How can these moves be synchronized across multiple jurisdictions so that transit and mobility guide development rather than chasing after it?
​
Theme 4: Pinpoint Urbanism — Micro Interventions for Targeted Renewal
Surgical design moves, such as a pop-up plaza, a curbside bioswale, or an architectural graft that splices new programs onto underused spaces, prove cities can upgrade without razing or replacing. How can adaptive reuse tactics such as parasitic additions, vertical “plug-ins,” opportunistic scheduling, and envelope enhancements unlock fresh social and ecological value from existing buildings? Where has tactical urbanism led to new investments in aging public spaces and right-of-ways? Which datasets, rapid-feedback loops, and policy tools, from tactical zoning overlays to micro-grant funds, best amplify these small catalysts into district-wide momentum?
Theme 5: Open Topics — New Thoughts towards Reimagining Cities
We welcome other unique thoughts on how cities can be reimagined and repositioned for the future that may not be included in the four themes above. Feel free to submit your alternative topic proposal for consideration.
​
ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM:
AIA’s RUDC Symposium annually brings architects, designers, planners, policymakers, economists, urbanists, and others together to provoke, critique, and ideate on the future of cities. Building on recent successes in Washington, DC (2023) and Indianapolis (2024), we are headed south! Join us in downtown Dallas, Texas, for a spirited two-day symposium with talks, panels, and tours on October 28-29, 2025. Together, we will delve into emerging trends, theories, research, and technologies shaping regional and urban design across the country.
​
SUBMIT YOUR IDEA:
And we want YOU! Our Call for Speakers is open through June 16, 2025, 11:59 pm (Central Daylight Time). All proposals are welcome. We encourage all disciplines, backgrounds, geographies, and experiences to submit. Those responding to this Call for Speakers must be available for an in-person presentation in Dallas on October 28-29, 2025. Sessions may be recorded.
​
We invite proposals that seek to respond to the urban impacts within one or more of the themes above. The proposals shall each be limited to a one-page summary, up to 600 words, noting which theme you have selected to address, along with a short bio, with additional exhibits as needed. The schedule and format will comprise short and provocative sessions, encouraging inspirational dialogue. The symposium will include presentations and panels based on selected topics and speakers.
​
Email questions to info@rudc-symposium.com.