Architects and Urban Thinkers Explore Circular Economies at This Year’s Living Cities Forum

The Living Cities Forum, an architecture and urban design event ushering in new perspectives in all aspects of urban life, is back in 2022 and will take place on Thursday 21 July at The Edge, Federation Square.

For as long as humanity has traded, materials have flowed. The 2022 Living Cities Forum theme ‘Material Flows’ will examine the global material flows that underwrite our growing built environments. Within the 2022 theme, Living Cities Forum will deliver its fifth program of keynote lectures, with cross-disciplinary talks over the course of the day by globally renowned thinkers from around the world.

The first round of speakers to be announced for the 2022 event include Ghanaian educator and architectural scientist Mae-ling Lokko; Netherlands based architect and educator Joseph Grima; Canadian landscape architect Jane Hutton; and British architect and co-founder of Dark Matter Labs Indy Johar. More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. For the last five years, the Living Cities Forum has contributed a substantial influence to the thinking, discourse, collaboration and policy-making that determines approaches to urban development across Australia and beyond.

While there has been increased awareness into the impacts of our material use in recent times, our approach to building construction continues to reflect short-term commercial interests over long-term environmental sustainability. These short-term interests are most evident in the material flow of pollution.

Against this backdrop, the forum will explore if the current global disruptions to materials flows, as a result of the global pandemic, wars and other destabilising factors, which might well be our chance to rethink the materials we have taken for granted. Can we seize this moment to accelerate our first steps towards a genuine circular economy? Can we support those who are decarbonising our supply chains, while also breathing new life into smaller footprint manufacturing? This forum will be an opportunity to rethink logistics as ethics and to reframe scarcity as the catalyst for new abundance.

Panelists will either appear in-person at The Edge Theatre or from elsewhere in the world via a dynamic blend of technologies. This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for industry professionals, students and anyone interested in the future of cities to network, share ideas and workshop together.

2022 Living Cities Forum Speakers

Mae-ling Lokko is an educator, architectural scientist and biomaterials technology researcher from Ghana and the Philippines. Mae-ling’s work interrogates the possibilities of using agro-waste and biopolymer materials in the built industries. Her research integrates a broad range of technical, environmental, social and cultural criteria that questions contemporary material-value systems. Through this research, she aims to rethink our use of materials to meet justice goals.

Joseph Grima is a writer, curator and architect. He is the creative director of Design Academy Eindhoven and co-founder of research studio Space Caviar. Joseph is well known for his research into Non-Extractive architecture, curating the Non-Extractive Architecture exhibition and research program at the V-A-C in Venice.

Jane Hutton is a landscape architect, researcher and co-founding editor of the journal Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy. Jane’s research focuses on the expanded relationships of the act of building – from material flows to labour movements. An aspect of which is the examination of the movement of materials as they pass from production landscapes to designed constructions through demolition and disposal or re-use.

Indy Johar is an architect, co-founder of 00 (project00.cc) and most recently Dark Matter, Studio Master at the Architectural Association (AA). Indy, on behalf of 00, has co-founded multiple social ventures from Impact Hub Westminster to Impact Hub Birmingham, along with working with large global multinationals & institutions to support their transition to a positive Systems Economy. He has also co-led research projects such as The Compendium for the Civic Economy, whilst supporting several 00 explorations/experiments including the wikihouse.cc, opendesk.cc. Indy is a non-executive director of WikiHouse Foundation & RIBA Trustee and Advisor to the Mayor of London on Good Growth.

About the Living Cities Forum

Since 2017, Living Cities Forum has had a substantial influence on the thinking, discourse, collaboration and policy-making that determines approaches to urban development across Australia. While including established experts, Living Cities Forum actively seeks out and invites voices from across society to take part in deep and critical analysis of our cities. The dialogues are lively, rigorous, scientific, personal, productive and always inspirational, testing out old thinking, ushering in new perspectives, and paving the way for new, better design approaches, in all aspects of urban life.

Details for the rest of the Living Cities Forum 2022 program to be announced mid-June.

About the Naomi Milgrom Foundation

Since 2014, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has enriched Australian cultural life by engaging new audiences with exceptional art, design and architecture. Led by Naomi Milgrom AC, the foundation has become a model for public-private collaboration by enabling new projects with a focus on public engagement, industry stimulation, and education.

Key Details for Living Cities Forum 2022

• Date: Thursday 21 July 2022
• Time: 9am-5pm
• Location: The Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne
• Tickets: $150 ($100 concession) includes Living Cities Forum day-pass, with morning tea and lunch
• Grab your tickets here

More info at livingcitiesforum.org