On April 23, School of Architecture and Planning hosted a symposium on health and urban vacancy in Baltimore, part of an annual series  founded by Professor of Architecture Dr. Mohammad Gharipour that aims at encouraging an interdisciplinary dialogue among academics and professionals on issues related to health, urbanism, and architecture.
The speakers included five academic and professionals from various disciplines including public health, urban planning, architecture, and historic preservation.  In the first lecture, Eli Pousson (Director of Preservation and Outreach at Baltimore Heritage) discussed the History of vacancy in Baltimore. The second speaker, Dr. Joshua Shafstein (former Health Commissioner of Baltimore and the current Vice Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) presented a lecture on public health perspective on vacancy. The next speaker, Stephanie Smith (City of Baltimore’s Assistant Director for Equity) discussed current policies and approaches to address urban vacancy. Then, Klaus Philipsen, FAIA (principal of ArchPlan) shared his insights on health in contemporary Baltimore from the point of view of architecture. In the last lecture, Jennifer Goold (Executive Director of the Neighborhood Design Center) discussed the issue of health and architecture and the role that advocacy could play to address the issue of vacancy in Baltimore. These lectures were followed by a one hour roundtable, moderated by the symposium chair, Dr. Gharipour.
This symposium is the third of a series of annual events that are hosted at the School of Architecture and Planning. The last two events were on “Innovations in Healthcare Design” and “Public Health and Architecture.” This event was sponsored by AIA Baltimore and ZGF Architects in Washington DC and organized by Dr. Mohammad Gharipour.