Living Cities Forum 2018
Living Cities Forum 2018
Investigating the theme Shaping Society, the 2018 Living Cities Forum invited attendees to a gathering of illustrious architects and global design thinkers. Building on the success of its inaugural 2017 program, the Forum will question the role of design in changing and bettering society. How do history, geography, climate and culture contribute to making a better city? Do generous buildings and thoughtful spaces make good citizens or encourage inclusive communities? And if not, precisely what are urban design and architecture good for?
On Thursday 26 July, generously supported by the Victorian Government through Development Victoria, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation hosted the second Living Cities Forum at Deakin Edge, Federation Square. Building on the success of the inaugural Living Cities Forum in 2017, the 2018 program focused on the theme Shaping Society, interrogating current world trends in urban development, architecture and technology, and considering design’s potential to better the lives of citizens and encourage more inclusive communities.
Leading international architects and urban thinkers gathered with the Australian architecture and design community to share research and explore theoretical and practical concerns behind future-thinking global practices, drawing on political, economic and population shifts, multidisciplinary frameworks and modes of regeneration and refurbishment, collectively seeking thoughtful and humanistic ways of city-making.
Carme Pinós, Estudio Carme Pinós,
MPavilion Architect 2018
“For me, the urbanist is more important than architecture… A good urbanist can support bad architecture. There are no good architects that can resolve bad urbanism.”
Format
The Living Cities Forum 2018 comprised two distinct sessions, each presenting three keynote addresses followed by a panel discussion, approaching urgent and transnational challenges to urban design from leading sociological and practice based perspectives.
The morning session, Exceptions to the Rule, reflected on global forces shaping cities, from the repositioning of capital to the unguarded influence of technology, and government neglect of civic spaces, and the ways in which architects and urban planners might effectively respond. Liam Young, Jane Hall & Audrey Thomas-Hayes and Saskia Sassen gave historical, climactic and cultural context to the Forum’s investigation, consolidating data, ethnographical research, virtual design and the scope of civilian-led policy and projects to imagine possible future urbanisms.
The afternoon session, Frameworks and Platforms, narrowed the Forum’s focus to consider buildings as physical frameworks for life and occupation. Internationally influential architects and educators Carme Pinós, Ryue Nishizawa and Nicholas Lobo Brennan reviewed practice-specific navigations of reorganised and reorganising urban spaces, providing cross-cultural examples of architecture as a platform for enhanced experience and an illustration for future uses. During the second half of each seminar, a panel discussion coalesced the speakers’ insights and, crucially, opened the floor to questions and considerations from delegates, facilitating dialogues between international and local design professionals and allowing for knowledge transfer to be incorporated into practices immediately effecting the development of Australian cities.
Outcomes
With the goal of fostering connections between big thinkers and local doers—from design and urban planning experts, to social activists and academics—a primary objective of the Living Cities Forum was to highlight the role of architecture as a shaping force in our cities, towns and local communities, and to inspire civic engagement with questions of place, design and liveability. Curated in collaboration with a series of cultural, creative and educational partners, the Living Cities Forum delivered upon the Naomi Milgrom Foundation’s proposal to strengthen the Creative Industries Ecosystem by bridging various industries, cultural organisations, creative and academic disciplines and parties from private/public sectors, with the hope of encouraging important conversations about the function of design within society into the mainstream dialogue.
5
International speakers
33,961
Social media engagements
39
National and international articles featuring speakers and raising public awareness
FREE
Lectures at Melbourne, Monash, RMIT Universities and the University of Technology Sydney
Collaborative Outcomes
Assemble Papers Housing
Developed in partnership with the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and MPavilion, Issue #10 of Assemble Papers spotlighted the international guests of Living Cities Forum 2018 and engaged with discussions that arose from the Forum, contextualising globally reaching issues inside Australia’s architectural and design community. The issue extended and archived the ideas set out in the Forum, providing them an even broader audience, with focused interviews and features.
Australian Financial Review Magazine
In collaboration with the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and the Living Cities Forum 2018, the Australian Financial Review Magazine published a national feature article on the Living Cities Forum and international guest speakers, written by journalist Stephen Todd. AFR also presented Living Cities Forum 2018 delegates with over 600 gift bags containing the magazine.
Housing Choices Australia
At the invitation of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, advocates from national not-for-profit housing provider Housing Choices Australia spoke at the Living Cities Forum 2018, providing a representation of the organisation’s public housing platform and further connecting Victorian and international thought leaders and businesses. Housing Choices Australia produced two videos, featuring interviews from within its community, that were shown on screens during the Living Cities Forum 2018.