Six participants will present their findings from Detour/Dérive, an urban experiment presented by Project Cityscope, the non-profit organization of Works Partnership Architecture. The participants have engaged in separate walks by choosing a bus line to ride and getting off at a stop or stops they find intriguing. The task was to walk, document/record, and reflect within a 24-hour period. The aim of this project is to explore, project, and/or (mis)interpret narratives of the city that do not occur to us as critical to the urban landscape.

Nerd Nite is a monthly event that strives for an inebriated, salacious, yet deeply academic vibe. We aim to entertain, educate, elucidate, enlighten, and other things that start with “e.” Be there and be square.

When: Tuesday, February 4, 2014, doors at 6:00pm, event at 7:00pm Where: Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, Portland Cost: $8.00* suggested cover at the door

This Nerd Nite will feature two excellent talks:

The Willamette River: A History of Sediment and Change

The Willamette River is one of the most important geological features of this area. With no river, no port. And with no port, no Portland. The river has undergone huge changes since the arrival of settlers and cities. Yet throughout the taming the river by building sea walls, the dredging and channeling to facilitate shipping, and the 100+ years of dumping toxins and waste, the Willamette is still a living river with birds and fish and people who dependent on it. Keith Johnson, Manager of the DEQ Northwest Region Cleanup Program, and Kevin Parrett, NWR Cleanup Section Manager at the DEQ, will give us a visual history of the Willamette and how the river and the city have changed each other.

The Subsurface History of Portland

People have been moving the earth around in the Portland Metro area to suit our needs since the earliest days of urban habitation, and this history of cutting and filling impacts many aspects of living and working in the city. Engineer Stuart Albright from Apex Companies will present historic maps and photos of Portland that he uses to evaluate the location and extent of the earthwork and landfilling that has shaped this area. He will also share the history of the locations of some of the largest historic fills, such as Asylum Creek, Guilds Lake, Tanner Creek, and Marquam Gulch, and how those landscapes affect us today.

*A note on the suggested cover: Nerd Nite is completely supported by money collected at the door. We are committed to offering education opportunities to adults who want to learn, so if $8 is a hardship for you, please come anyway and donate what you can.

Please join us for the public launch of the City of Portland Early Adopter Program.  This initiative seeks to better connect  local Portland companies that can provide smart tech solutions with city bureaus needing improvements in operations, maintenance and capital projects.  The public sector is a viable testing ground for innovations developed by the private sector, in particular those produced by early stage entrepreneurs.  As the go-to resource for public and private interaction on cooperative projects, the Early Adopter Program will foster better information exchange and more efficient decision making between city departments and local industry.

At this event, you will:

Learn about City Bureaus and the innovation challenges that your company may help solve Meet with city staff and discuss specific problem statements in a roundtable format Introduce and promote your company   Discover how the Early Adopter program can be a resource for your company

We will be sending more information before the event on specific problem statements that bureaus will present for the roundtable sessions.