New TEDx event to focus on unique housing solutions

An upcoming Tedx event in Stratford is getting set to focus on new ideas about one of today’s most talked about issues – housing.

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The Nov. 7 event, hosted by locals Alan Kasperski and Geoff Love, will feature three separate housing experts, as well as a question-and-answer session. While the organizers looked at many different ideas, they wanted the discussion to focus on a topic that would be applicable to other small cities across Canada.

“So much of the conversation when it comes to housing is about Toronto or Vancouver or Waterloo or London – those communities which may have the resources to deal with housing, you know, as best they can, not that there’s any perfect solution. I don’t think there is one,” Kasperski said.

Speaking at the event will be:

• Mike Moffatt, an assistant professor in the business, economics and public policy group at the Ivey Business School at Western University, and the senior director of policy and innovation at the smart prosperity institute;
• Anneke Smit, associate professor at the University of Windsor, and the founder and director of the Center for Cities (C4C) at Windsor Law; and
• Paul Kalbfleisch, the former vice-president of creativity and brand strategy for Research in Motion who currently consults with cities on urban planning.

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The speakers were chosen because they will do more than just present a selection of numbers, Kasperski, said.

“We went looking for speakers – people who wouldn’t just, you know, stand up there and say, ‘yes, we have a housing crisis. We need to build a million-and-a-half houses, and we need to have affordability and all those kinds of things. . . . We looked for something that was an idea, something different, something that would contribute to a solution for housing or the whole topic.”

The free event has already gotten a great response, with tickets being claimed within two days. While there has been interest from people who are fans of the TEDx events, the timeliness of the topic has also helped, Kasperski noted.

“Not just Stratford, but any community wrestling with, for example, is housing a human right like the UN suggests? Is it the biggest, you know, investment that someone will make in their lifetime? Is it a responsibility that we have for those who need help – the homeless and whatnot – for assisted housing. It’s all of those things. How they fit with each other, I think, is all part of this discussion,” he said.

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Founded in 1984 as a single conference, TED stands for technology, entertainment and design. However, the TED concept has now spanned across the world and covers a range of topics, from science to business to the arts to pressing global issues.

Variations of the larger TED conference events are locally organized and follow a similar format, with either live speakers or pre-recorded presentations. Stratford’s event, which will be held in Lazaridis Hall at the Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre, will be recorded and edited by local production company Ballinran Entertainment and will be uploaded to YouTube for future viewing.

Kasperski is already hoping to host more TedxStratford events. He is working with Stratford secondary school in a mentorship capacity to help students potentially host their own TedxStratfordYouth event next year if TED gives the go ahead. The license with TED lasts for a year, but Kasperski, is already interested in renewing it.

“So it’s almost like it’s an audition for the first year,” he said.

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