An initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, Living Cities Forum brings together international urban designers, thinkers and placemakers to explore the role of design, architecture and planning in shaping our cities, towns and local communities.

Since its inception in 2017, the forum has fostered collaborations and influenced the thinking behind policy-making and urban development across Australia.

Whilst convening established experts, the Living Cities Forum actively seeks out and invites voices from across society to take part in deep and critical analyses of our cities.

Every session aims to challenge dominant paradigms and therefore 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.

History

The Inaugural Living Cities Forum in 2017 brought together leading international architects and urban thinkers to consider the factors that determine a healthy and vibrant city.

Shaping Society (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.

Future Needs (2019): 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.

The Long View (2021): 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.

Material Flows (2022): For the fifth Living Cities Forum renowned urbanism experts delivered thought-provoking keynote lectures on the theme: ‘Material Flows’. 

Infrastructures of Life (2023): For the sixth Living Cities Forum, we invited attendees 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 condition.

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.