A lucky handful of Polymer team members attended Urbanity 2018, Australia’s leading conference for the property and urban development industry. Held by our friends at The Urban Developer, an inspirational line-up of speakers, workshops, expert panels and site tours filled the three-day event, covering the latest ideas in urban design, smart cities and Urbanity’s theme for 2018: Urban Legacy.

Stand-out talks included keynote speaker and Singapore-based American academic, Parag Khanna, who delivered one of the most-watched TEDx talks on cities and urban development. Parag spoke about high density urban clusters and the power that infrastructure lines hold over human behaviour and social organisation. Exploring connectivity as an ‘emerging megatrend’, Parag discussed the future of AI-integrated smart cities, with streamlined supply chains, considered urban clusters and optimised social spaces.

Ex-journalist and foreign correspondent Michael Ware was stationed in war-torn Middle East for 10 years, witnessing first-hand the destruction of historical monuments and town centres through systematic attacks and targeted explosions. Michael’s understanding of urban legacy has been shaped by this experience, and he raised important questions on the ways in which cities can regroup and redevelop – both culturally and structurally – when faced with such violent, widespread loss.