Since its inception in 2017, the Forum has fostered collaborations and influenced the thinking behind policy-making and urban development across Australia.
Every session aims to challenge dominant paradigms and usher in different perspectives, paving the way for new, better design approaches, in all aspects of urban life.
Beyond the Forum itself, satellite events with Forum speakers build connections between big thinkers and local doers—from design and urban planning experts, futurists and policy makers, to social activists and academics.
Previous Forums
2024
Common Interests
Common Interests, the seventh edition of Living Cities Forum, spotlights progressive ideas and solutions from across the globe exploring the complexities of collective space.
Professor Lesley Lokko, OBE
African Futures Institute (Ghana/Scotland)
Nathalie de Vries
Architect, MVRDV (The Netherlands)
Martí Franch
Landscape Architect, EMF Estudi (Spain)
Jill Desimini
University of Connecticut (USA)
Catherine d'Ignazio
MIT (USA)
Kabage Karanja
Cave Bureau (Kenya)
2023
Infrastructure of Life
Infrastructures of Life, the sixth edition of the Living Cities Forum, presents an opportunity to radically rethink the layers of assumption behind the conventional understanding of infrastructure, to interrogate what we need to collectively live well as we grapple with rapidly changing environmental conditions.
Nashin Mahtani
Director, Disaster Map Foundation (Indonesia)
Marina Tabassum
Architect, Educator, Founder of MTA Dhaka (Bangladesh)
Keller Easterling
Architect, Professor at Yale University (USA)
David Fortin
Architect, Professor at the University of Waterloo (Canada)
Eva Pfannes
Architect, Urban Design, Co-Founder of OOZE (Netherlands)
Christian Benimana
Co-Exective Director, MASS Design Group (Rwanda)
Carles Baiges Camprubí
Architect, Founding member of Lacol (Spain)
2022
Material Flows
For as long as humanity has traded, materials have flowed. The 2022 Living Cities Forum theme ‘Material Flows’ examined the global material flows that underwrite our growing built environments.
Uncle David Wandin
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (Australia)
Indy Johar
Founding Director of 00 and Dark Matter Labs (UK)
Joseph Grima
Architect, Critic and Co-founder, Space Caviar (UK/Italy/Netherlands)
Jane Mah Hutton
Landscape Architect, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo (Canada)
Mae-ling Lokko
Architectural scientist, designer and educator; Yale University School of Architecture (USA)
Xu Tiantian
Architect, Founding principal of DnA_Design and Architecture (PRC)
Vo Trong Nghia
Architect, Founder, Vo Trong Nghia Architects (Vietnam)
2021
The Long View
In 2021, Living Cities Forum invited globally celebrated thinkers, architects and urbanism experts to discuss The Long View, a theme that asks how different perspectives on time can affect the growth of our cities.
Tega Brain
Artist, researcher, educator, environmental engineer (Australia/USA)
Maarten Gielen
Designer, researcher, Co-founder, Rotor (Netherlands)
Anapuma Kundoo
Architect, Professor, Potsdam School of Architecture (Germany)
Timothy Morton
Philosopher, Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University (USA)
Uncle Bruce Pascoe
Elder, Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man; Writer, editor and anthologist (Australia)
Sarah Lynn Rees
Associate Principal + Lead Indigenous Advisor at Jackson Clements Burrows Architects (Australia)
2019
Future Needs
The third annual Living Cities Forum in Melbourne and Sydney invited a cohort of internationally renowned speakers to interrogate the theme Future Needs, addressing the challenges imminently facing our cities, from climate change and population density to social inequality.
Rachaporn Choochuey
Architect, Design Director, all(zone) (Thailand)
Christopher Hawthorne
Professor and Chief design officer, City of Los Angeles (USA)
Adrian Lahoud
Architect, Dean of School of Architecture, Royal College of Art (UK)
Catherine Mosbach
Landscape Architect, Founder mosbach paysagiste (France)
Glenn Murcutt AO
Architect, Pritzker Prize winner (Australia)
Mabel O. Wilson
Architect, designer and arts historian; Professor of Architecture, Columbia University (USA)
2018
Shaping SocieTy
Investigating the theme Shaping Society, the 2018 Living Cities Forum invited attendees to a gathering of illustrious architects and global design thinkers.
Nicholas Lobo Brenan
Designer, Co-Founder, Apparata Architects (UK)
Jane Hall and Audrey Thomas-Hayes
Founding members, Assemble (collective) (UK)
Ryue Nishizawa
Architect, co-founder of SAANA; youngest recipient of the Pritzker prize (Japan)
Carme Pinós
Architect, Estudio Carme Pinós (Spain)
Saskia Sassen
Professor of Sociology, Columbia University and London School of Economics, London (USA/UK)
Liam Young
Speculative Architect, Film Director; Founder, Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today and Unknown Fields (Australia/USA)
2017
Inception
The Living Cities Forum 2017 brought together leading international architects and urban thinkers to consider the factors that determine a healthy and vibrant city.
Minsuk Cho
Architect and Founder, Mass Studies (South Korea)
David Gianotten
Architect and Managing Partner, OMA, (The Netherlands)
Dan Hill
Director, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne,
(Australia)
Rory Hyde
Assoc Prof in Architecture, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne (Australia)
Marisa Yiu
Founding Partner, ESKYIU (Hong Kong)
Mimi Zeiger
Architecture and critic (USA)
An initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation
The Living Cities Forum is an initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, a charitable not-for-profit organisation chaired by Australian business leader and philanthropist Naomi Milgrom AC. Established to enrich Australian cultural life by engaging new audiences with exceptional art, design and architecture, the Foundation focuses on bold projects that generate social, economic and environmental value. The Living Cities Forum is the sister event of the Foundation’s centrepiece project, MPavilion.
Naomi Milgrom AC is internationally recognised for spearheading and supporting cultural innovation and artistic excellence. Through the MPavilion and Living Cities Forum initiatives, she has collaborated with some of the world’s leading architects and urban thinkers, including Glenn Murcutt, Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, Amanda Levete, Bijoy Jain, Sean Godsell and Carme Pinós. She has been awarded three Honorary Doctorates, the Australian Institute of Architects President’s Award, and Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010. Ms Milgrom accepted the Creative Partnerships Australia Philanthropy Leadership Award in 2016, was the Commissioner of the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2017 and in 2018 received the Melbourne Achiever Award by the Committee for Melbourne. She was also a judge for the 2017 and 2019 World Architecture Awards, is a founding patron of PHOTO 2021 International Festival of photography and Chair of the Sydney Powerhouse Precinct Project.
FAQ’s
LCF 2025 will be in Melbourne this year, on Tuesday 14 October, 9 am - 5 pm at The Edge, Fed Square
This year’s theme is centred around ‘Critical Mass’. To learn more about the theme here.
Each year, LCF brings a lineup of global visionaries to share their knowledge and insights across Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture.
Sign up to the LCF Newsletter or follow @livingcitiesforum on Instagram to stay up to date on presenter and schedule announcements.
Tickets include the full day forum, with lunch and refreshments.
Early Bird Tickets — $213
Offer until 30/06/25
Standard Tickets — $250
Limited capacity, available until sold out
Yes, this year we have introduced group ticket offers.
3 Tickets — 10% OFF
4 Tickets — 15% OFF
5 Tickets — 20% OFF
For 6+ Tickets, contact us.
The Forum will be video and audio recorded, and accessible online. You can watch last year’s LCF presentations here.