Following a call for submissions, an international jury for the James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City - undertaken by the CCA in collaboration with the Cities Programme of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and in association with the Van Alen Institute Projects in Public Architecture, New York - named architect Teddy Cruz of San Diego, California, the 2004 - 2005 Stirling Lecturer for his project on "Border Postcards: Chronicles from the Edge." Mr. Cruz's project was chosen among proposals submitted by 53 candidates from 22 countries, ranging from senior scholars and practitioners to emerging voices.

The James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City competition was inaugurated in November 2003 to introduce a unique forum for the advancement of critical perspectives on the role of urban design and urban architecture in the development of the urban environment worldwide.

Cruz's "Border Postcards" develops new perspectives on urban planning and design in the international border zone that spans the metropolitan areas of San Diego and Tijuana. The jury unanimously agreed that his blend of theory and design, and his particular attention to the informal city were significant contemporary reflections on the way James Stirling approached urban design. Teddy Cruz will present the inaugural James Stirling Memorial Lecture at the CCA in Montréal on 28 October 2004. This first presentation of the lecture will be followed by a colloquium held at the Van Alen Institute in New York City in Winter 2005, and a second presentation of Cruz's lecture in Spring 2005 at the LSE.

The 2004 - 2005 Stirling Lectures jury of architects and urban planners included: Joan Busquets, Chair (Principal, BAU-B Arquitectura/Urbanisme, Barcelona, and Professor in Practice of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard GSD); Jean-Louis Cohen (Architect, Paris, and Sheldon H. Solow Professor of the History of Architecture, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU); Edward Soja (Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, LSE, and Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA); Kim Storey (Principal, Brown & Storey Architects, Toronto); and Mirko Zardini (Architect, Milan, and Senior Consulting Curator, CCA).

The jury strongly commended the breadth and diversity of the proposals, which addressed a wide range of concerns embracing historical as well as contemporary social and political perspectives on urban design and urban architecture. They determined that the project of Teddy Cruz, Guatemalan-born architect and founding principal of Estudio Teddy Cruz in San Diego, was simultaneously of practical importance, critically engaged, and theoretically innovative. Over the past decade, Cruz has demonstrated a deep commitment to finding architectural and urban planning solutions for global political and social problems that proliferate in international border zones. Taking his theoretical frame of reference as a starting point, Cruz has pursued investigations that stimulate an unconventional practice addressing the future of 'divided' cities and the larger phenomenon of border zones.

Three other outstanding proposals were noted: Lukasz Stanek of Krakow, Poland, whose project on "The perceived, conceived and lived spaces of post-communist cities," proposed an innovative spatial analysis of the contemporary urban environment of Nowa Huta, Poland. Gregory Cowan of Perth, Australia, whose "Challenging the Street: Politics and Architecture in Urban Design of Streets," dealt with the complex relationship between political action and public space. In particular, the jury was impressed by the project of Sarah Whiting of Somerville, USA, whose "When Modernism went Public: How the Superblock's Short Rise and Fall Marked America's Public Sphere," linked historical debates on Rockefeller Center to urban redevelopment issues after 11 September 2001.

Mirko Zardini, Senior Consulting Curator for the CCA, has commented that: "These projects eloquently demonstrate a new consciousness of the complexity of the urban situation around the world, and at the same time reflect new and provocative approaches to the study of the city and its architecture. Overall, they suggest that not only are architects and academics applying a wider compass to the problems they choose to investigate, but they are also analyzing the evidence in light of the full range of mechanisms that determine social, political, and economic developments in the world today. The level of critical thinking in this first group of proposals suggests is highly promising for the future of the Stirling Lectures competition."

The James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City were conceived in homage to architect James Stirling, who believed that urban design is integral to the practice of architecture and a vital topic for public debate. Joan Busquets summarized the underlying intent of the program: "Over the last several decades, cities throughout the world have witnessed major shifts that have dramatically affected urban form, density, and programming. These, combined with the emergence of new patterns of urbanization and innovative approaches to the design and management of cities, call for strategic thinking commensurate with the radical nature of changes that have occurred, projects that simultaneously advance practical knowledge and provoke critical as well as theoretical debate."