All posts by The Urban Vision

Design Disruptions: The Future of High-Density Housing


Episode-1 will focus on rethinking high density housing. Our guests will be Moshe Safdie, founder of Cambridge, USA based Safdie Architects, and Ma Yansong , founder of Beijing and Los Angeles-based MAD architects. Safdie changed how the world thinks about high density housing with Habitat, a pavilion for Montreal’s Expo 67 that incorporated prefabricated construction and public and private outdoor spaces into a highly intricate multifamily residence. He’s recently built new Habitat projects in Singapore, China, and Sri Lanka. Yansong is inspired by the ideals of “Shanshui City,” which entails harmonizing nature , the urban landscape, and society in novel ways through architecture. He a has explored typological alternatives for urban housing, like hybrid urban courtyard concepts and high density vertical villages.

The series is co-hosted by New York-based architectural writer Sam Lubell, who has written ten books about architecture, and contributes regularly to the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Architectural Digest; and Bangalore-based Social Entrepreneur Prathima Manohar, founder of think do tank The Urban Vision. Our goal is to provide an international perspective, mixing guests from different continents.

ArchDaily is the main media partner on this series.

Urban Manifesto: Density – Boon or Bane?

In Urban Manifesto, we create a manifesto for a happier, healthier and liveable urban future as the world transitions from the COVID emergency into a new era.

For our third episode we explore Density: boon or bane? with Larry Beasley, founding principal of Beasley and Associates planning and urban design consultancy and former co-director, Planning, City of Vancouver, and Anna Minton, author and Reader in Architecture, UEL.

Urban Manifesto is co-hosted by Lucy Bullivant, place strategist, author & founder of Urbanista.org and Prathima Manohar, founder of think-do-tank The Urban Vision. The sessions are also live streamed by the Architecture Foundation as part of its ongoing 100 Day Studio online initiative: https://www.architecturefoundation.or…

Speaker bios: Larry Beasley is the Distinguished Practice Professor of Planning at the University of British Columbia and the founding principal of Beasley and Associates, an international planning and urban design consultancy. He is a registered professional planner in Canada and the former co-chief planning for the City of Vancouver. He sits on many boards including TransLink, British Columbia’s integrated transportation agency and the National Capital Commission in Ottawa.

Anna Minton is an author and Reader in Architecture at University of East London where she is Programme Leader of the MRes programme. Her books include Ground Control: Fear and happiness in the 21st century (2009) and Big Capital: Who is London For? (2017). She is a regular contributor to The Guardian, a member of the editorial collective of the journal CITY and Chair of Trustees of Lambeth & Southwark MIND.

Urban Manifesto: Streets – Places of Commerce and Culture

In this new webinar series, Urban Manifesto, successfully launched on 26 May 2020, we create a manifesto for a happier, healthier and liveable urban future as the world transitions from the COVID emergency into a new era. For our second episode we explore ‘Streets as Places for Commerce and Culture’ with Rohit Shinkre, a Mumbai-based architect and academic, and Adam Walker, the UK entrepreneur reimagining urban places. Urban Manifesto is co-hosted by Lucy Bullivant, place strategist, author & founder of Urbanista.org and Prathima Manohar, founder of think-do-tank The Urban Vision.

This session is also live streamed by the Architecture Foundation as part of its ongoing 100 Day Studio online initiative: https://www.architecturefoundation.or…

Adam Walker Adam Walker, the founder of CRATE, has announced his decision to step down from the workplace brand he has built over the last six years. Adam is looking forward to spending time with his family, travelling and launching his next entrepreneurial mission reimagining places. This new venture launches this year at LREF (London Real Estate Forum, 9-10 Sept) with some unusual and exciting regeneration schemes for the post-C19 world. Adam says “I’m excited to be preparing to launch my new business which will be reimagining and ripping up the retail rule book. I believe that this is our opportunity to reset and reboot real estate” as we knew it.

Rohit Shinkre Rohit Shinkre is a practising architect with his own practice in Mumbai founded in 1996 and Principal of Rachana Sansads Academy of Architecture, Mumbai. He has worked on a variety of projects across planning and product design in India, Europe, Middle East and Africa for a variety of user groups from communities to corporate bodies. He is the expert co-author, together with Dr Sharit Bhowmik, of the Hawkers and Street Vendors Policy for Mumbai: Planning and Design Strategies, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, 2014.