Presented by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, the second annual Living Cities Forum opens today with an international line-up of leading architects and design thinkers. With the theme Shaping Society, the Forum will investigate the role of design in creating more equitable and inclusive cities. Speakers include influential Barcelona-based architect and educator Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós; the UK's 2015 prestigious Turner Prize winners Jane Hall & Audrey Thomas-Hayes; renowned Dutch-American sociologist and urban thinker Saskia Sassen; and Tokyo-based architect Ryue Nishizawa, the youngest ever recipient of the Pritzker Prize. Supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and Development Victoria, the Living Cities Forum 2018 is Australia’s principal forum on architecture and urban transformation.

Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, said: “Today’s speakers demonstrate a strong commitment to the relationship between people, communities and the spaces they inhabit—architecture as a social and cultural undertaking as well as a material one. Design can be part of unlocking bigger solutions to problems and opportunities facing the city, and I’m pleased that the Living Cities Forum is part of this discussion.”

Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley, who will officially open the Forumsaid: “Melbourne is the perfect case study for a conversation about how innovative design can shape community thinking and impact the way we live, connect and interact with each other. This year’s Forum brings leading design thinkers to the world’s most liveable city to explore the role design can play in shaping our future—both globally and right here in our creative state.”

Attending speakers include:

Carme Pinós (Barcelona): Founder of Estudio Carme Pinós and recipient of the prestigious Berkely-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize (2016). Carme is the designer of MPavilion 2018.    

Saskia Sassen (New York City): A Robert S Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and a member of its Committee on Global Thought, Saskia’s eight authored books have been translated into twenty languages. Saskia will also be appearing at the Housing Futures Forum in Sydney on Friday, July 27. 

Jane Hall & Audrey Thomas-Hayes (London): Members of democratic design collective Assemble, winners of the 2015 Turner Prize, enabling social and research-based work. 

Nicholas Lobo Brennan (London): Co-founder of architecture, design and research collective Apparata, constructing buildings, furniture and books with an interest in communities and landscapes.

Liam Young (Los Angeles and London): Architect, filmmaker and performer concerned with imagining digital future urbanisms, and founder of the think tank Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today.

Ryue Nishizawa (Tokyo): architect and the director of Office of Ryue Nishizawa, as well as the co-founder of SANAA. 

The Forum’s speakers will bring leading knowledge to the question of how best to strengthen our cities and communities. Their interest span permanent buildings designed to foster communal life, to temporary frameworks that augment collective activities; sustainable and digital models of practice that allow deeper engagement, and the overarching political and economic drivers that define our cities today. Each session will comprise individual guest talks followed by a moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A. The morning session—"Exceptions to the rule"—will be a discussion of the global forces shaping our cities and the ways in which architects can effectively respond. Liam Young, Jane Hall & Audrey Thomas-Hayes and Saskia Sassen will assess whether we need to rethink our approach to city-making.

The second session—"Frameworks and platforms"—will focus on buildings as physical frameworks for life and occupation, looking at the ways architecture shapes new experiences and provides a platform for future uses. Carme Pinós, Nicholas Lobo Brennan and Ryue Nishizawa will consider how our buildings can best serve our changing lives. 

The Living Cities Forum 2018 is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and Development Victoria and presented by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation in partnership with Open House Melbourne with the assistance of Melbourne School of Design, Monash University, RMIT University, Australian Institute of Architects and Planning Institute of Australia.

MPavilion 2018 by Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós is supported by the City of Melbourne, Creative Victoria and ANZ, and will open to the public on 8 October.

About Naomi Milgrom Foundation
Supporting great art, design and architecture projects was Australian philanthropist Naomi Milgrom’s aim when she started a Foundation in 2014. Aiming to enrich Australian cultural life and engage new audiences, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has become a model for public-private collaboration, backing projects with a strong public, industry and educational component.

MPavilion is the foundation’s biggest project and has become Australia’s leading architecture commission. MPavilion 2018, the fifth in an ongoing series, is designed by Barcelona-based Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós. MPavilion 2017 was designed by the Netherlands-based OMA / Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten; MPavilion 2016 was designed by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai India; MPavilion 2015 was designed by British architect Amanda Levete of AL_A, and renowned Australian architect Sean Godsell designed the inaugural MPavilion 2014.

Contact: media@mpavilion.org