Session 1 of ‘Designing for Diversity’: Cities & Communities
Everywhere and anywhere you go, people connect, engage, and empathise with one another, and enjoy sharing spaces while working, learning, and having fun. Every space we share – offices, schools, parks and pubs – are shaped by the cultures of those who have designed them, built them, use them.
But many members of our society worry that people from different backgrounds and ideologies feel alien in what should be familiar and welcoming places.
This event brings together top architects, urban planners, and policy experts to explore how to make the shared spaces in our cities and communities more welcoming – and ultimately how to strengthen society’s fabric as a whole.
The discussion will explore how we can design public spaces – parks, squares, neighbourhoods – to help people of different cultures interact and enjoy each other. How do we bring together people in a multitude of places to celebrate their differences and engage in cultural exchange? How do we preserve, promote, and integrate cultural markers in our cities in a way that celebrates history and diversity?
The Aspen Institute UK, in partnership with the Khalili Foundation, explore these pertinent questions. It is part of the wider World Festival of Cultural Diversity which, in association with UNESCO, is bringing together various intellectual and creative initiatives in collective celebration of our world’s cultures.
Moderated by:
Paul Owens – Paul is the Co-Founder and Director of BOP Consulting. Paul is a leading international advisor and practitioner in culture and creative industries. He leads BOP’s international work on flagship projects across Asia, MENA and Latin America and his approach and insight on developing and implementing cutting-edge cultural initiatives is sought by policymakers, city leaders and creative businesses worldwide. As a dedicated advocate of the role culture can play in enhancing economic development outcomes, Paul established the World Cities Culture Forum to share best practice on promoting culture within urban policy in cities all over the world. Working with the Mayor of London’s team he has grown and managed a network of more than 40 major cities and an important independent soft power city network worldwide. He is also Chair of The Video College, a training and production facility for young people in West London; on the Board of Alchemy World a charity which promotes creative entrepreneurship on Ethiopia; a Trustee to the Achates Foundation advocating for greater philanthropic investment in culture and the arts; and a Visiting Lecturer at Shanghai Theatre Academy, School of Creative Studies.
On the panel:
Shanaz Gulzar – Shanaz is an Artist as well as the Producer at Manchester International Festival and Chair of Bradford City of Culture Bid 2025.
Sunder Katwala – Sunder is the director of British Future. British Future is a UK-based think tank and registered charity whose stated aim is to advance the education of the public in the subjects of equality and diversity, human rights, racial and cultural harmony, citizenship and social inclusion. Sunder previously worked as a journalist. He was general secretary of the Fabian Society thinktank from 2003 to 2011, and was previously a leader writer and internet editor at the Observer, a research director of the Foreign Policy Centre and commissioning editor for politics and economics at the publisher Macmillan. His support for Everton and Southend United football clubs reflects an upbringing in Cheshire and Essex, though he was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire, to parents who came to Britain from India and Ireland, to work for the NHS.
Harriet Wennberg – Harriet is the Executive Director of INTBAU, a global network of 38 chapters and 9,000 members working under the Royal Founding Patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales to create better places to live through traditional building, architecture, and urbanism. She has a Master’s in Architectural History, is a trustee of the Georgian Group and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Armstrong Yakubu – Armstrong is a Senior Partner at Foster + Partners. Armstrong has a unique role, which combines his responsibilities as a permanent member of the Design Board with close involvement in a few, carefully selected projects that benefit from his specialist expertise. Some of his more recent work includes his close involvement with the redevelopment of The Murray in central Hong Kong. Currently he is involved in the design of the Oceanwide Center in San Francisco. In Washington DC, Armstrong was in charge of the master planning of the CityCenterDC – transforming the 12-acre site of the former Washington DC Convention Center into a new downtown neighbourhood complete with walkable streets, alleyways, parks and squares combined with vibrant shopping and a mixed used community. He was one of the lead designers on the landmark Hearst Headquarters in New York, which combines the creative reuse of a historic stone base with a contemporary tower.