The Sorbonne University professor, scientist, and writer Carlos Moreno will deliver the Lewis Mumford Lecture entitled “From Crisis to Proximity: A New Social Contract for Cities.” The talk is Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, at 6 p.m. in CCNY’s Great Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Please RSVP here. 

Moreno is associate professor and scientific director of the ETI (Entrepreneurship – Territory – Innovation) Chair at the IAE Paris, the Sorbonne Business School. The French-Colombian scholar coined the term “15-Minute City,” which offered a deceptively simple and revolutionary idea that everyday destinations like schools, stores, and offices should only be a short walk or bike ride away from home. In 2024, Moreno wrote the book “The 15-minute City: A Solution for Saving Our Time and Our Planet” which has been translated into 14 languages. His TED Talk “The 15-minute City” has been played more than 1.5 million times.

Today’s urban crises — climate disruption, rising inequalities, mobility pressure, housing shortages, and social fragmentation — lie at the heart of deteriorating well-being and quality of life. In a predominantly urban world, it is essential to pursue deep reflection and decisive action to transform this malaise through new urban approaches. Throughout history, proximity — the capacity for people to remain connected — has been a key lever for rebuilding social cohesion.

Moreno argues that we must go further and establish a new social contract for cities, grounded in proximity as a civic, ecological, and economic principle. By rethinking how we organize time, space, and everyday access, proximity provides a powerful framework for transforming urban life. Concepts such as the “x-minute city” and “high-quality social life” demonstrate how human-scale ecosystems can reduce carbon emissions, ease daily stress, strengthen communities, and create new forms of economic value.

In this vision, proximity is neither a trend nor a lifestyle choice, but a structural response to the crises shaping urban futures — one that can make cities more humane, inclusive, and resilient. As a new urban era emerges, proximity becomes the cornerstone of a renewed pact between citizens, institutions, and territories, enabling people not only to live in cities but to flourish in them.

In addition to his publications, Moreno has received many prestigious awards.

Live captioning and ASL interpretation will be available upon request. For access requests or questions, please contact: ssadean@ccny.cuny.edu .

About the Lewis Mumford Lecture

Each spring, the Spitzer School of Architecture and its Urban Design Program present the Lewis Mumford Lecture and seminar. Named for writer, architecture critic, and urbanist Lewis Mumford, who attended City College, the series invites the world’s most distinguished urbanists to speak freely and publicly about the future of cities and the social purposes of architecture. This series was initiated by the late Michael Sorkin, distinguished professor of architecture and director of the Urban Design Program at the Spitzer School, and curated by him for 11 years.

Previous Lewis Mumford Lecturers:

2004 Jane Jacobs
2005 Mike Davis
2006 Enrique Peñalosa
2007 Amartya Sen
2008 David Harvey
2009 Paul Auster
2011 Richard Sennett
2012 Janette Sadik-Khan
2013 Marshall Berman
2014 Theaster Gates
2015 Rebecca Solnit
2022 Yasmeen Lari
2023 Emily Badger
2024 David Gissen
2025 Aimi Hamraie

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Thea Klapwald
e:  tklapwald@ccny.cuny.edu