Factory798
x = independently organized TED event

This event occurred on
October 13, 2012
Beijing
China

This time, we turn to the City. Also this year, City 2.0 has been nominated as TED Prize. We have been trying to define and identify the meaning of it. Like Web 2.0, the essence of City 2.0 lies in “User-Generated” and “Radical Interaction”. We embody the belief that individual action can bring collective and colossal change. This is a chapter we defy conventional wisdom, shine light on human dignity, and profile our culture with self-conscious engagement from the bottom up.

Session 1: The Connector

History emerges only in retrospect, and it’s all starting from connection. Connect scattered dots to tell a beautiful story, connect different individuals to construct an inclusive platform. Meanwhile, we can be the platform on our own. Become the one who shares, assemble a physical or virtual space, invent new tools to outreach boundaries of our senses and emotions, and extend our visions towards the creative and unconventional. We are The Connectors who spread ideas and inspire actions.

Session 2: Design and Rebuild

With the city in memories decaying exponentially and showcasing vulnerabilities, we are introducing new design and concepts to reconfigure its equilibrium. We restructure the city pattern, we shape the urban outlook, and we draw the big picture of its aspiration. Meanwhile, we are also building up its culture and inspiring its soul. We Design and Rebuild a place our reasons can be empowered and emotions can internalized.

Session 3: Co-Living

We start to dissent basic functions of the city, we narrate its imbalance between prosperity and scarcity, but we are by no means despaired. The Future is now. We’ve been appreciating aesthetics and cultivating citizenship. We stay in awe of nature and embrace it into our lives. Together we are re-imagining the future. We rediscover our nostalgia in the city, in which we are Co-Living.

On Oct.13th,2012, 2:00pm, at UCCA of 798 Art Zone, Beijing, TEDxFactory798 will invite thinkers, doers, and storytellers from various fields, to narrate and weave their dreams about city2.0 together.

Auditorium, UCCA
UCCA, 798 Art District, No. 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
Beijing, 100015
China
Event type:
TEDxCity2.0 (What is this?)
See more ­T­E­Dx­Factory798 events

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check event website for more information.

Cui Qiao

Deputy Curator, Ullens Center of Contemporary Art. Cui Qiao helps pioneer the culture and communications field, and has been involved with prominent groups and activities such as the Berlin Asia-Pacific Week, Berlin International Film Festival, and the Chinese branch of the Goethe Institute. Cui curated a variety of international cultural exchange programs, including the China film tour and photography exhibition of masters Win Wenders and Abbas Kiarostami. Cui also was also involved in translating and publishing many of their works, such as: “Once”, “My Time with Antonioni”, and the poem collection “Walking with the Wind”. She is dedicated to building a platform for open and fair cultural dialogue, mutual enlightenment, and seamless communication. She believes that "anyone who cares for our living situation can launch conversation on our platform".

Dirk Eschenbacher

Regional Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, Asia Pacific. Dirk works at the intersection of advertising, branding and technology, fueling the creative process with non-traditional and digital thinking across a variety of fields. Dirk is a founding partner at ZANADU, China's premiere website for boutique and luxury outbound travel, and also a partner in Yugong Yishan, China's leading venue for live music. With numerous award-winning records, He lectures and researches Design and Creativity at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Zhang Hongxun (A Xun)

Awakener, Spiritual author, and Zen master. A Xun was previously director at CCTV for the business and political talkshow, "Dialogue", where he would adventure post-disaster into mine shafts, speak with convicted murders in prisons, meet with drug addicts at treatment centers, visit labor camps, and travel through American and African parks. He has written three books: One Enlightened World, One Enlightened Zen, and One Enlightened Metaphor.Through countless charity events, face-to-face meetings, webinars, and personal coaching, A Xun has allowed millions of his comrades achieve a state of oneness. Currently, A Xun is helping individuals restore their spiritual consciousness and reconnecting personal relationships through the power of the internet, and has developed an online and mobile service named “Wisdom Partner”.

Chen Qiufan (Stanley Chan)

Science Fiction Writer. Stanley Chan starts his stories in real situations and develops them into fictional fantasies.Since his rise to popularity in 1997, Chen has been featured in Science Fiction World, Esquire, Chutzpah, and other magazines. Chen’s popularity goes beyond China -- his works have been translated by Hugo and Nebula Award Winner Ken Liu, and have been distributed internationally. Ken’s translated version of Quifan’s “The Fish of Lijang” won the 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Award in the short fiction category.Chen’s first short story collection, entitled “Thin Code”, was published this year. His novella “The Abyss of Vision” appeared in an anthology published in 2006. Also in 2006, Chen won the Taiwanese Dragon Fantasy Award with his work “A Record of the Cave of Ning Mountain”.Currently, Chen works for Google China.

Che Wu

Expert focusing on urban rain flood control and new drainage system. Che Wu is a professor in Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. He currently teaches, researches, and consults on environmental engineering issues, focusing on urban rain flood control and usage, water environmental protection and renovation, and new drainage systems.Along with his responsibilities as a professor, Che also works as the head of the Urban Water Storm System and Water Environment Lab at the Ministry of Education, and is a board member of the Green Building Research Center at the China Society for Urban Study. Che has been leading multiple urban planning and strategy consulting projects on rainwater systems in various newly developed areas, including areas of Beijing, Dalian, and Ningbo. He also was involved in the design and operation of more than 40 green building projects, including LEED Platinum projects in the US and Three Star Green Building projects in China.

Zhang Hu

Senior Mechanical Engineer dedicated to jet fuel filter and waste-oil cycle technology. Zhang Hu is an experienced mechanical engineer and PH.D, focusing on aviation jet fuel filter technology and equipment. Zhang’s research on filter separators has reached internationally advanced levels, improving the quality and purity of aviation jet fuel. His research areas also include industrial oil and other fuel filters, especially waste-oil cycle technology including biodegradable oil.Zhang is a board member of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, Fluid Engineering Branch, and holds positions in various international organizations including the American Petroleum Institute, and the International Organization for Standardization.

Ender Jiang

Creative Director, Founder of IFCity project. As a creative director, cross-disciplinary investor, and founder of the IFCity project, Ender has been wandering across multiple cities in Asia.From his early-stage independent film productions to interactive creative production explorations, and from game movies to new media, Ender has been dedicated to spreading ideas through visual expressions, and has gradually built urban constructive thinking and positive future outlooks in the process.

Dai Haifei

Designer and Architect of "Egg-Shape Hut"After graduating from college, Dai, a non-Beijinger, faced the difficulties of finding an apartment in Beijing for a good price and at a good location. His solution was to design and build the "Egg-Shape Hut" out of bamboo, which he then used as his own dwelling.The creativity of "Egg-Shape Hut" is but a small example of many narrow urban-dwelling environments, and with its eye-catching and humorous alternative perspective, it made people start to contemplate and care more for our basic livelihood in urban environments.

Chang Tianle

Founder, Beijing Organic Farmers Market Chang once served as the Chief Representative for the US non-profit Agriculture and Trade Policy Research Institute, which focused on issues such as Chinese civil society and sustainability. She studied international journalism at the Shanghai Foreign Language University and the New School in New York City.Chang founded the Beijing Organic Farmers Market as an alternative food distribution system, acting as a self-organized food community. Though it doesn’t belong to mainstream society, it delivers solutions for many citizens’ livelihood and for the need to live organically.

Organizing team

Ellen
Cheng

Beijing, China
Organizer