PUSHBACK Talks
Cities are becoming increasingly unliveable for most people. Costs are rising but incomes are not. Sky-high rents, evictions, homelessness, and substandard housing are common realities for urban dwellers across the planet. There is a global housing crisis. How did this basic human right get so lost? Who is pushing people out of their homes and cities, and what’s being done to pushback?
On the heels of the release of the award-winning documentary, PUSH, filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, have reconvened. Join the filmmaker and the advocate as they reflect on their experiences making PUSH and exchange ideas and stories about the film's central issue: the financialization of housing and its fall-out.
For more about PUSH and to view it: www.pushthefilm.com
For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com
For more about Leilani Farha in her new role, Global Director of The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org
PUSHBACK Talks
Architects for Public Good
The neoliberal prioritization of profit in the development of cities is drastically impacting the appearance and function of cities worldwide. Social and government housing providers are told to follow the lead of private housing providers, taking away the government's ability to innovate and push the envelope in the housing space. At the same time, in some countries, private developers rely on commercial and retail space in apartment buildings being rented out to stable, high-earning tenants like banks and corporations, limiting cities' potential for growth and space optimization.
For decades, more than 50% of architects worked for the public sector, but today that's down to just 0.2%. Where did all the architects go? How can we balance the urgent need for more housing with the need for more intentionally designed, community-oriented spaces? How can architects help us create the future we want to see?
Fredrik & Leilani sit down with architect, strategic and philosophical designer at Dark Matter Labs, and author of REopening of a city, Jenny Grettve, and Finn Williams, city architect of Malmö and co-founder of Public Practice to discuss the role of architects in designing cities that improve our quality of life.