This panel discussion will focus on the issues and value of maintaining spaces for manufacturing and production at all scales in the urban environment.

Join curator Nina Rappaport for this intimate conversation with Mike Williams, General Manager of Economic Development & Culture for the City of Toronto and Jason Rehel, Cultural Critic for the National Post as they reflect on some of the key elements outlined in the exhibition, currently showing at 401 Richmond St. West and previously on view at the Design Exchange in Toronto. This exhibition was launched at the Skyscraper Museum in New York City.

The Vertical Urban Factory poses the following questions:

• Can the factory as a place of work programmatically reassert its relevance in the urban fabric with the advent of free trade, globalization, and gentrification, making production more local?
• Can urban factories make cities more self-sufficient?
• What would this new urban landscape with vertical manufacturing look like urbanistically and architecturally?
• How can people live with industry without incurring negative health effects?
• How can we integrate sustainable industries into urban neighborhoods with potential for energy production — not just consumption — in a symbiotic relationship?

If you will be tweeting at this event, please join @TOCityEcology in using the #urbanfactory hashtag!