Archtober–New York City's Architecture and Design Month–is fast approaching. The anticipated festival from Oct. 1-31, 2013 continues to grow with an amazing variety of exhibitions, conferences, films, tours, and other activities to celebrate the importance of architecture and design in everyday life.

Now in its third year, we at Archinect & Bustler are proud to once again be Archtober's digital media sponsors.

Continuing from last week, here are some exciting highlights from Archtober's long list of events that you shouldn't miss for Week 2, Oct. 9-16:

• All Lit Up: Times Square at Night | Oct. 9
  Join guide Kathleen Hulser for this special nighttime walking tour of Times Square lighted signs as she contextualizes the arcane origins of American nighttime advertising with the history of American media and advertising technology. Touching on the changes in family life that turned red light districts into meccas of 24/7 street life, this history-based tour traces the evolution of the Great White Way from its earliest days to the present.
• TEDxNYIT Meta Resiliency | Oct. 10
  NYIT will gather some of the world’s leading thinkers, doers, and visionaries at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway for the TEDxNYIT event: METARESILIENCY, "the resiliency of resiliency."
• "Preserving the Metropolis" APT Annual Conference | Oct. 11
  "Preserving the Metropolis" will open the discussion on protecting urban cultural heritage in the 21st century by exploring best practices and viable solutions from New York and around the world. In addition to presentations with international relevance to cities of all sizes, the conference and related events will provide the opportunity to present lessons learned from one of the oldest international metropolises, and demonstrate why New York City remains a magical and unequalled place to live and visit.
• Opening Weekend Celebrations for the Newly Expanded Queens Museum | Oct. 12
  In Fall 2013, the Queens Museum of Art will be a transformed institution. Building on 35 years of success, it will grow to be one of the most interesting and enjoyable cultural institutions in the greater New York area. The key to this transformation is the Museum’s expansion: a doubling of the size, to 100,000 square feet, which will create one of the most refined museum spaces in the country.
• Participatory City:100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab - Opening Program | Oct. 11
  Led by international interdisciplinary Lab Teams, the Lab raised awareness of key urban topics, and continues to inspire an ongoing conversation online and through the projects it developed in cities. This program explores the major themes and ideas that emerged from the Lab during its travels to New York, Berlin, and Mumbai from 2011 to 2013.
• National Design Week | Oct. 12
  Mark your calendars for Cooper-Hewitt’s largest education initiative! The National Design Week program aims to draw national attention to the ways in which design enriches everyday life and the importance of design education.
• Walking Tour: Arc of the Beat: From West to East Villages Across Six Decades | Oct. 13
  From the '40s to the '90s the Beat Generation was strongly associated with New York's bohemian neighborhoods. Join tour leader Ron Janoff, a coordinator of NYU's Beat Generation conferences, in retracing their steps, and visiting the locations of bars, coffeehouses, theatres, galleries, and apartments that were their haunts and homes during their intervals in New York.
• Architecture & Design Film Festival @ Tribeca Cinemas | Oct. 16
  The Architecture & Design Film Festival is the nation's largest film festival celebrating architecture and design. This year's festival at Tribeca Cinemas will showcase more than 30 films, panel discussions, book signings and Q&A's with design leaders and film makers from around the world.
• Sustainable Design Forum: Materials Transparency | Oct. 16
  As designers and builders, do we really understand the chemicals in the materials we specify? Are our materials making us sick? As we place increasing scrutiny on the food we eat, we’re starting to focus on the detrimental health impacts of the chemical compounds in the materials and product assemblies that we specify.
• Lecture by Jean-Louis Cohen: "Le Corbusier, an Atlas of Modern Landscapes" | Oct. 16
  A special lecture that is part of a diverse array of public programs the Institute of Fine Arts offers throughout the academic year. Programs include annual lecture series, special lectures, symposia, and conferences which cover an extensive range of time periods and genres.

Check back soon for our Week 3 recommendations.

For the complete list of events from October 1st through 31st, head over to the Archtober online calendar, download & print the Archtober guide, like the Facebook page, or follow Archtober on Twitter, YouTube, and its blog.