On Monday 5 October, the architecture world will be celebrating World Architecture Day, which was initiated by the International Union of Architects (UIA) in 2005 and World Architecture Day is celebrated on the first Monday of October. 

This year's theme is "Toward a better urban future" and the UIA will be hosting a live webinar to discuss this year’s theme and mark World Architecture Day on Monday 5 October. A webinar will be live streaming at 12h00 – 14h30 GMT in Zoom and UIA's Facebook page. 

Moderated by UIA President Thomas Vonier and UIA Secretary General Serban Tiganas, the webinar will begin with a virtual roundtable which will include the UN Habitat Assistant Secretary General and Executive Director Victor Kisob, Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO Ernesto Ottone Ramirez and Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Architect, Partner, Business Development of BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.

Six panels of global experts will then discuss how architects and professionals in related fields can address the challenges facing today’s cities: Water and Sanitation, Public Spaces, Air Quality and Housing followed by a conversation about how architects can assist in the realisation of SDG Number 11, "Sustainable Cities and Communities".

Other confirmed speakers include:

• Georg Pendl, the President of the Architects' Council of Europe (ACE)
• Max Maurer, Scientist & Professor at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)
• Joseph Kwan, director of Region IV (Asia) UIA Work Programme Architecture for All
• Ishtiaque Zahir and Natalie Mossin, Co-directors of the UIA SDG Commission
• Magda Mostafa, Co-director of the UIA Education Commission 
• Nadia Tromp, Director of the UIA Community Architecture Work Programme. 

View the programme of the webinar on this page. View the speakers’ biographies on this page. 

Register to the webinar on this page. 

Top image courtesy of UIA

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