Post-debate Film | Humanising the City | Urban Age Debates: Cities in the 2020s

This post-debate film follows the second Urban Age Debate on 'Humanising the City', which took place on 27 April 2021 and asked the question 'Can the design of urban space promote greater cohesion and healthier lifestyles?'
The film incorporates new insights from the debate, which brought together prominent city-shapers and commentators committed to making cities more liveable, more democratic and more complex.
This film is the second in a series, with the aim to expand the activities of the Urban Age Programme and incorporate new provocations to explore what could and should happen in cities over the next decade.
Featured speakers:
Elizabeth Diller is a partner of the architectural practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) based in New York City. Diller has been committed to an exploration of how democracy and the public realm intersect, realising spatially-inventive and socially-progressive projects in cities across the world including the High-Line in New York City and Zaryadye Park in Moscow, as well as educational and cultural buildings that prioritise connection with the city and the creation of social space.
Rozana Montiel leads the Mexico City-based architecture studio Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura which has investigated how elegant, modest architecture can contribute to the creation of socially-inclusive urban spaces. She has transformed abandoned open spaces in a public housing project into active social facilities through the Common Unity project in Mexico City and completed a rural housing project for earthquake victims in Ocuilan, Mexico.
Amanda Levete is one of the United Kingdom’s most respected architects who has consistently pushed the boundaries of architectural, technical and social innovation. A regular commentator on design and urban society, she is the founder and principal of Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) which re-engaged the Victoria & Albert Museum in London with the city through its award-winning Exhibition Road project, re-animated Lisbon’s waterfront with the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, and is exploring the potential of regenerating inner cities across the United Kingdom.
Suketu Mehta is a writer, critic and urbanist who focusses on the social and ethnic complexity of the contemporary city, and the deep connections between urban form and cultural vibrancy. Author of ‘Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found’, winner of the Kiriyama Prize and finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, Mehta explores how cities sustain diverse urban communities, delving deep into the dynamics of migrant communities in the global cites such as New York City, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro.
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