The Atacama Desert as an Extreme Laboratory for Climate, Extraction, and Design
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Start time: 9:30 AM
End time: 3:30 PM
Location:
Richardson Memorial Hall, (Thomson Hall, Room 202)
Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment
Tulane University
6823 St. Charles Avenue / New Orleans, LA
Funded by:
Center on Climate Change
and Urbanism (CCU)
There are no conference fees or other charges. · REGISTER · Registration is not required to attend, but is greatly appreciated for planning purposes.
In the face of accelerating global warming and advancing desertification, the symposium “Water Paradoxes: The Atacama Desert as an Extreme Laboratory for Climate, Extraction, and Design” will bring together leading experts in arid zones, water management, critical minerals, renewable energy, cultural heritage, and urban and architectural design. The symposium will examine how climate change and extractive economies are transforming the world’s oldest and driest desert—and how the Atacama’s extreme water conditions offer vital insights for other regions confronting similar pressures.
Through provocative discussions and crossdisciplinary exchange, the symposium seeks to rethink how we understand and respond
to the intertwined challenges of global warming, water scarcity, and desertification. Its debates and outcomes aim to inform the strategies, governance frameworks, and design approaches needed to navigate these transformations in the decades ahead.
Tulane University is committed to providing universal access to all our events. Please contact the event organizer listed above for accessibility accommodations. Please note that advance notice is necessary to arrange some accessibility needs.
Tulane is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Legally protected demographic classifications such as race, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status, etc. are not relied upon as an eligibility or participation criteria for employment or educational programs or activities.
Registration
Welcome Remarks: Dean Iñaki Alday
Introduction: Rubén García Rubio and
Cristóbal Molina
Panel 1 (Water Heritages):
Cecilia Puga, Pilar Alliende and Orlando
Hernández Ying.
Moderator: Tony Pereira (SCLAS)
Panel 2 (Water Technologies):
Mariana Concha, Carlos Foxley and Ibrahim
Demir.
Moderator: Margarita Jover (TuSABE)
Panel 3 (Water Disputes):
Carolina Tohá and Eduardo Silva.
Moderator: Ludovico Feoli (CIPR)
Lunch
Panel 4 (Water Climates):
Priscilla Ulloa, Pedro Alonso and Annalisa Molini.
Moderator: Adam Marcus (CCU)
Epilogue / Afterword — Toward a
Shared
Vocabulary of Water Paradoxes
Tom Reese
Closing Remarks: Rubén García Rubio and Cristóbal Molina
Please complete the form to register for Water Paradoxes: The Atacama Desert as an Extreme Laboratory for Climate, Extraction, and Design.
Attend the Symposium. Join scholars, designers, policymakers, and experts for a cross-disciplinary conversation on water, extraction, climate change, and design in one of the world’s most extreme inhabited territories.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
9:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Richardson Memorial Hall, (Thomson Hall, Room 202) Tulane University
6823 St. Charles Avenue /
New Orleans, LA
United States of America
Tulane University is committed to providing universal access to all our events. Please contact the event organizer listed above for accessibility accommodations. Please note that advance notice is necessary to arrange some accessibility needs.
Tulane is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Legally protected demographic classifications such as race, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status, etc. are not relied upon as an eligibility or participation criteria for employment or educational programs or activities.
