This event explores drawing as a political argument in urban design, honoring Michael Sorkin’s legacy.

This colloquium will bring together three distinguished professionals — Felipe Correa, Mariana Mogilevich, and Paola Viganò — to explore the relationship between the visual and political domains of urban design. It is convened to celebrate the urban design community at the Spitzer School of Architecture and further the legacy of the late Michael Sorkin (1948-2020), former Distinguished Professor of Architecture and director of the Graduate Program in Urban Design.

This event will take place in the Sciame Auditorium (SSA 107) and is free and open to the public, with registration required.

“The Visual and the Political” is an expansion on theoretical and practical agendas that emerged from the inaugural Michael Sorkin Visiting Distinguished Lectureship, which was held by Marina Correia in 2025.

Drawings can be understood as visual arguments, both fictional and political modes of communication that support the creation of alternative realities. Sorkin’s criticism was never divorced from a tangible imaginative process. The colloquium will speculate on tactics of approximation between drawing — understood as the aesthetic and visual domains of architecture — and urban advocacy or the assembling of political and cultural expression with ethical agendas that defend publicness and shared spatialities.

We wish to thank the donors to the Sorkin Legacy Fund and the Michael Sorkin Visiting Distinguished Lecturer Fund for helping us to further the legacy of Michael Sorkin.

Following this event, prospective students are invited to visit the Urban Design studio. Separate registration is required.

Speakers

• Felipe Correa
• Mariana Mogilevich
• Paola Viganò
• Marina Correia

Time: 2:00 pm EST

Free!

Registration