VPL P2P Architecture, Urban Planning and Design: Melawan Waktu

Virtual Public Lecture: People to People Relationship (VPL P2P) is one of the cooperation programs initiated by Atase Pendidikan & Kebudayaan KBRI Washington DC, United States, Majelis Rektor Perguruan Tinggi Negeri Indonesia (MRPTNI) and Ikatan Ilmuwan Indonesia Internasional (I-4) the United States and Canada where diasporas from the United States and Canada can share their knowledge. This event aims to strengthen higher education in Indonesia and establish the foundation for future collaboration from university to university.

Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) was trusted as the Architecture, Urban Planning and Design (AUD) series coordinator. The first of the series was held on Saturday, 26 September 2020, via the Zoom platform, Facebook Live, and Youtube Live, with enthusiastic participation from lecturers, researchers, and 115 public universities and institutions in Indonesia.

In this first session of the series, we featured Prof. Abidin Kusno, Director of York Centre for Asian Research and Professor in Faculty of Environmental Studies in York University, Canada, who is not only experienced from his previous (works and projects in his field of studies, but also an inspiring lecturer as the first guest lecturer with the topic entitled “Melawan Waktu” that shared his lecture late at 10 pm from Canada. The session was moderated by Rulli Pratiwi Setiawan, Ph.D., Senior Manager of ITS Global Engagement Office on World Class University Affairs, and hosted by Faiqoh Agustin S.T., the staff of ITS Global Engagement Office.

The public lecture began sharp at 8 am GMT+7 with an opening speech from Bambang Pramujati, S.T., M.Sc.Eng., Ph.D., Vice-Rector IV ITS for Research, Innovation, Cooperation, and Alumni and followed with the introduction of moderator and speaker. Prof. Abidin Kusno then started his lecture, where he shared the importance of time and how it is reflected in the Architecture, Urban Planning, and Design field. After the professor ended his insightful lecture, the moderator opened the question and answer session. The participants may ask questions, which can be delivered directly or through the chat room feature in Zoom, Youtube, or Facebook to Prof. Abidin Kusno.

Since there were almost 500 participants through all the platforms, and many were very eager to ask questions, only several selected participants and questions were asked to the professor. This question and answer session was the highlight of the whole session that day, since not only the questions were fascinating, the diversity of the participants who asked their questions were also mesmerizing, from a very experienced lecturer in the AUD field to a month-old university student from one university in Indonesia where after Prof. Abidin Kusno answered her well-put question. The professor quoted one of the first sentences he started the lecture with, “I am not only happy to share my knowledge and to discuss with the participants but also learning from the participants.”

After the question and answer session ended, it was followed by the announcement of the dissemination competition from the committee. All the participants of this and the following sessions of the series can join in the competition, where they can share the knowledge and the insight they gained in the series to those around them because as we believe in VPL P2P, the knowledge owned is power, but the knowledge shared is power multiplied.

The first session of VPL P2P: Archithecture, Urban Planning and Design, “Melawan Waktu” with Prof. Abidin Kusno ended by taking pictures of the speaker and participants. We hope that the participants can keep up their spirit and tune in for the rest of the series and the dissemination competition. For those who cannot join or want to re-watch the lecture, we have shared the recorded session in Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember youtube.