top of page
speaking engagements 🡓
06/28/2024
Valeria led a poster presentation about Co-creating the Future of Forest Work: A multidisciplinary methodology for the Youth Visioning Workshop at IUFRO.
06/26/2024
Scott addressed IUFRO attendees on Sustainable Wood for Thriving Cities and Forests: How cities can support thriving forests nearby and faraway through Conservation Timber.
05/30/2024
A gathering of global innovators on the future of wood as a conservation tool. Pilot Projects and Cities4Forests hosted an intensive ideation session on the concept of "Conservation Timber" as a crucial category within wood production and procurement during Carrefour International du Bois in Nantes, France.
3/7/2024
Led by Built by Nature and the Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership, this high-level session brought together inspiring leaders from across the world at the first Buildings and Climate Global Forum in Paris
12/9/2023
Scott led a workshop on the concept of "Systemic Collaboration" with key leaders at COP28 to demonstrate the potential of collective action.
11/18/2023
Dubbed Europe's hippest and most inspiring city-making festival, the Italian Turin-based Utopian Hours travels to Miami for a day of creative urbanism.
6/26/2023
Scott led a workshop on the concept of "Systemic Collaboration" with 40+ leaders in the spaces of sustainability, built environment and philanthropy in Klosters, Switzerland.
2/3/2023
Scott presented the Cities4Forests’ Partners Forest Workshop: Connecting tropical forests to cities for culture and systems change.
10/15/2022
Scott connected the Brooklyn Bridge Forest and the Partner Forest program to ideas of utopianism at this annual festival about city making.
9/6/2022
The Swiss Green Economy Symposium is a neutral and non-ideological platform for discussing and exchanging successful solutions and projects that help mastering those complex challenges.
6/3/2022
Participating in the programme of H22, a major initiative by the City of Helsingborg, Sweden, to develop future welfare solutions aimed at improving quality of life in a smarter, more sustainable city.
5/30/2022
Scott was invited by ATIBT and FSC Denmark to talk about making long-distance connections between forest communities and European markets through the Partner Forest program
6/28/2021
Pathways towards climate-smart wood procurement. Introduced by former deputy mayor of London Nicky Gavron, Scott Francisco and Cities4Forests are hosting a participatory expert-level exploration of the latest thinking and research on sustainable wood for city projects.
6/21/2021
Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World (SW4SW). Sustainable wood in construction: Contributing to green cities and the bioeconomy. Scott Francisco presents the groundbreaking Sustainable Wood for Cities platform outlining 8 pathways for wood sourcing to benefit climate, biodiversity and livelihoods.
5/18/2021
This keynote by Scott Francisco outlined several key strategies to support circularity and sustainability in the new global forest economies. In particular the Cities4Forests' Partner Forest Program.
11/5/2019
As part of WORKTECH 19 in Toronto, Scott will be addressing the potential of private enterprise in addressing their remote influences on climate change.
College for Creative Studies’ Toyota Lecture Series in Design: “The City Forest Nexus: Designing A Synergistic Global Environment”
10/23/2019
Scott will be presenting the synergies found in recent work as part of Detroit's College for Creative Studies' Toyota Lecture Series in Design.
UN General Assembly - UN Climate Week “Local Leadership for Climate: Solutions to the Climate Emergency”
9/21/2019
As part of the UN General Assembly's 2019 Climate Week, Scott will speak on a panel on the power of cities to offer solutions to the escalating climate crisis and the actions that Cities4Forests has taken towards these goals. The recording of the session (including Scott's talk) will be available here.
Grimshaw Architects: “Bridging sustainable futures with systems thinking”
9/20/2019
Scott engaged Grimshaw Architects New York office in a conversation on sustainable cities, net zero buildings, forests, wood, and how design and systems thinking can build a bridge to a sustainable future.
Urban Future Global Conference, Oslo: “The City-Forest Nexus”
5/22/2019
Using ‘forest-positive’ wood as the first choice for urban infrastructure - from skyscrapers to pot scrapers - can reduce global CO2 emissions by 5-10% through avoidance and sequestration. However, the effectiveness of the wood-first movement hinges on a new kind of synergistic, transparent and charismatic relationship between cities and forests that must be designed and cultivated with the same creativity as the mass timber revolution. Cities will play the pivotal role in transforming the global economy by using their cultural, political and innovation power to guide behavior and values, consumption patterns, and link sustainable urban building with the world’s life-sustaining forests and the people who rely on them.
UN FAO Rome: “Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World”
10/31/2017
Scott will be presenting in this global forum on his ten years of work and research on the connection between urban wood sourcing and community forest conservation at the global scale, including: Wood at Work, Brooklyn Bridge Forest, The Future of Forest Work, C40 F40
World Design Summit: Wood as a Focal Thing: Catalyzing a conservation design culture in an era of technocracy
10/17/2017
Design is a culture-building activity: while offering new infrastructures for daily life, it “leads change” in our patterns of thinking, communication, skills and symbols.
11/10/2015
GROW was a one-day symposium in November 2015 geared toward emerging leaders and mid-career architects seeking inspiration and knowledge. Scott Francisco was invited to speak on the topic of "business structure."
2/3/2014
Pilot Projects and its partners in the Brooklyn Bridge Forest were finalists in the Innovation Prize for outstanding ideas and concepts in financing tropical forest conservation. The Brooklyn Bridge Forest team presented the project before a panel of judges and conference attendees.
2013 MAS Summit for New York City
10/18/2013
New York City needs leaders that will cultivate opportunity and nurture innovation in all spheres. This year’s Summit themes were Innovation and Leadership, driving a discussion of building a globally competitive city that is socially, economically and environmentally resilient. Scott Francisco presented Brooklyn Bridge Forest and 100 Fountains.
IAM Inhabit
10/4/2013
A gathering of creatives from a variety of disciplines to share ideas and issues related to their artistic and spiritual practices.
IIDEX, Toronto
9/27/2013
"Envisioning Adaptation: Design as a Bridge to a Sustainable Future"
Work Revolution Summit
9/20/2013
The Innovation Paradox: Do our products of innovation lead to an innovative culture—or not?
4/18/2013
Craftsmanship, Culture and Technology in Workplace Strategy: Building a Creative and Efficient Environment For Your Company
Social Enterprise Boot Camp at Columbia, NYU, and SVA
11/17/2012
"Sustainability and Social Enterprise"
9/1/2012
"A Tale of Two Hammers: Workplace, Tools and Organization-Craft”
7/1/2012
“Using Technology to Persuade People and Bring in the Dollars”
7/1/2012
“Jacques Ellul and the Lightsaber: The Cultural Potential of Inefficient Techniques”
WorkTech New York City 2012
5/1/2012
Masterclass
NEOCON Chicago
5/1/2012
“Envisioning Adaptation: Design as a Bridge to a Sustainable Future”
12/1/2011
“The Workplace of the Future; Double Visions”
Harvard Institute for English Language Programs
7/1/2011
“Social Media in the Middle East: Why Now, What’s Next?”
Buildex Seattle
12/1/2009
"16th Century Spice Trade: Ships, Organizations and Cargo”
Construct Canada
11/30/2009
“Design for Change" and "Obscure Dependencies”
IFMA International Facilities Management Association
12/2/2005
“In Pursuit of the Creative Workplace”
International Conference on Communities and Technologies, Milan
12/1/2005
"Communities vs. Networks"
HGTV: This Small Space
8/1/1998
Segment on Toronto Loft-Conversion Project
bottom of page