Water Paradoxes

"Water Paradoxes: The Atacama Desert as an Extreme Laboratory for Climate, Extraction, and Design"

Saturday, April 11, 2026

9:30am-3:40pm CT

Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment

Richardson Memorial Hall, Thomson Hall (Room 202)

New Orleans, LA 70118

Open to all students, faculty, staff, and the public.

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, held April 11 on Tulane University's Uptown Campus in New Orleans, will examine how climate change and extractive economies are transforming the world’s oldest and driest desert—and how the Chilean Atacama’s extreme water conditions offer vital insights for other regions confronting similar pressures.

Through provocative discussions and cross-disciplinary 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.

Sympoisum Co-Chairs: Cristóbal Molina Baeza, Visiting Professor, and Rubén García Rubio, Associate Professor of Architecture & Urbanism, at Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment

Symposium Sponsors: Center on Climate Change and Urbanism and the Saul A. Mintz Global Research Studios at Tulane 

SPEAKERS

Annalisa Molini - Civil and Environmental Engineer, River-Coastal Science and Engineering Department

Carlos Foxley - Engineer specializing in desalinization and water infrastructure, Director of ACADES

Carolina Tohá - Former vicepresident and Minister of Interior and Security of Chile

Cecilia Puga - Architect and Executive Director of Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Eduardo Silva - Friezo Foundation Chair in Political Science

Ibrahim Demir - Michael A. Fitts Presidential Chair in Environmental Informatics and Artificial Intelligence

Mariana Concha - Corporate Water Manager, CODELCO

Orlando Hernández Ying - Curator of the Arts of the Americas at the New Orleans Museum of Art

Pedro Alonso - Head of PhD Program in Architecture and Urban Studies, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Pilar Alliende - Archeologist, Head of Collections at the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

MODERATORS

Adam Marcus

Ludovico Feoli

Margarita Jover

Tony Pereira

SCHEDULE

An overview schedule is below. The detailed schedule will be available soon at the symposium website: www.atacamadesertproject.com/symposium

• 9:30 am–10:20 am – Registration, Welcome Remarks, Introduction
• 10:20 am–11:05 am – Panel 1: Water Heritages
• 11:15 am–12:00 pm – Panel 2: Water Technologies
• 12:10 pm–12:55 pm – Panel 3: Water Disputes
• 1:00 pm–2:00 pm – Lunch (Meal Provided)
• 2:15 pm–3:00 pm – Panel 4: Water Climates
• 3:10 pm–3:40 pm – Epilogue, Closing Remarks

Questions? Contact the Symposium Co-Chairs Rubén García Rubio, rgrubio@tulane.edu, and Cristóbal Molina Baeza, cmolinabaeza@tulane.edu.