How does a global city function? What is the role of the built environment in a world where invisible networks thrive? These were just a few of the questions explored during New York City: Global Village, NYIT’s third annual interdisciplinary conference devoted to the world’s largest metropolis.

Held at the Manhattan campus on March 9, the conference attracted top international scholars from a cross-section of diverse disciplines, including business, architecture, political science, and social science.

The keynote address was delivered by Professor Saskia Sassen, a leading theorist of globalization and its impact on cities. She is the Ralph Lewis professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and centennial visiting professor at the London School of Economics.

“Professor Sassen not only discussed her recent research comparing global cities but she also provided provocative comments for the panels that followed,” says Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Ph.D., an assistant professor of social sciences and chair of the conference. “Everyone was impressed with her intellectual engagement in the conference activities.”

Attendees were also treated to a performance of Crossing the BLVD,
a cross-media project that documents and portrays the largely invisible lives, images, sounds, and stories of new immigrants and refugees who live in the borough of Queens, N.Y.

The thought-provoking multimedia production “struck a chord” with the audience, says Bloom, helping to refocus the group for the afternoon sessions.
In conjunction with the conference, NYIT’s Gallery 61 featured the art show, NYIT Global Portraits. This special exhibit highlighted the work of several students whose work displayed aspects of different cultures.