Kenny Cupers is visiting assistant professor of architecture and 2010-2011 Reyner Banham Fellow at the University at Buffalo, where he teaches architectural history, theory, and urban studies. His work focuses on the social agency of architecture and the uses of urban space. Forthcoming books include a history of French mass housing and new town development, an edited volume that examines the problematics of use in architecture and urbanism, and a photographic reportage of the Parisian banlieue. His research on postwar modernism, participation, and contemporary urban issues such as the politics of street vending in Los Angeles has been published in Positions, Planning Perspectives, Cultural Geographies, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Thresholds. His work has been supported by numerous fellowships and grants, including the Fulbright, Chateaubriand, and Clarence Stein Fellowships. He recently co-edited a Footprint journal issue on agency and criticality in architecture and is the author of Spaces of Uncertainty (2002, with M. Miessen), an investigation into the ephemeral qualities of public space through the lens of post-wall Berlin. He received his MSc in Architecture from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), an MA from Goldsmiths College (London), and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

The lecture is part of PARG’s Emerging Voices Lecture Series. P+ARG is comprised of research students in both Urban and Regional Planning and Architecture. Our main purpose is to enhance the social and academic experiences of research students in the college. We organize forums for sharing research across disciplines as well as casual social events. We also use the group as a platform from which to approach administrators and outside groups with our aspirations and concerns as a student body. Our most exciting project this year will be the extension of last year's successful "Emerging Voices" series of guest lectures into a day-long conference planned for March 2011. This conference will be interdisciplinary in nature, and is themed "The Lean Years: Infrastructure, Dwelling and Sustenance," where we will convene local and visiting scholars to discuss the future challenges and interesting constraints facing those who shape the built environment.