I recommend you take time to read Martyn Day's recent report from the Venice Architectural Biennale, an international month-long exhibition. This year's theme, "Cities, Architecture and Society," raised issues about the environmental and societal impacts of rapid growth.
Autodesk was a key sponsor, and used the opportunity to drive discussion of green building issues in a way that Day found refreshing in its non-commercial way. (It was an expensive trip for Day; he was an entree for Italian mosquitoes more than once while in Venice, and was subsequently ill for two weeks with symptoms that match the description of West Nile Virus.)
--RSN