Join world-leading urban designer & architect Damon Rich in conversation with Guardian Journalist & cultural commentator John Harris. Presented by The Architecture Centre.
Damon Rich is a pioneering designer & urban planner who creates vivid & witty strategies to design places that are more democratic & accountable to their residents. Considered a leading figure in participatory design, Rich has worked over two decades across multiple American Cities. As Director of urban design & planning at Newark he led major regeneration projects to involve citizens in the transformation of Newark’s Waterfront, created large installations to communicate the New York Housing Crisis & led innovative strategic change to directly involve citizens in policy.
In conversation with Rich is John Harris, an award-winning journalist, writer, critic & one of the UK’s most valued cultural commentators. A Guardian columnist, John also writes for The Independent, New Statesman & The Times & is a regular pundit on Newsnight Review. Harris is a champion of social justice & takes a keen interest in the possibilities of community-led policy in the UK.
Attuned to the competing interests at play in the urban planning process, Rich will discuss alongside Harris his work & methods to ensure citizens and communities are included in civic decisions.
Designs for Democracy is presented with support from the US Embassy, the British Association for American Studies & the Landscape Institute.