Liz Ogbu, Founder and Principal of Studio O, San Francisco, USA, and current Droga Architect in Residence will arrive in Australia early this month to begin her residency.
A designer, urbanist and social innovator, Liz also has expertise in disruptive innovation in challenged urban environments. From designing shelters for immigrant labourers in the U.S. to setting up a water and health social enterprise for low-income Kenyans, the architect has considerable experience working with communities in need, leveraging the power of design to deliver social impact.
Part of the faculty at UC Berkeley and Stanford Design School, Liz has also been named Public Interest Design’s Top 100, 2014 Aspen Ideas Scholar, and Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. She earned her architecture degrees from Wellesley College and Harvard University.
As this year’s Droga Architect in Residence, Liz Ogbu will explore the topic of tactical urbanism, and how it can be leveraged as a community development tool among marginalised populations.
She writes: “Interest in tactical urbanism has surged in recent years. From street intersections turning into ‘parks’ in San Francisco to pop-up event spaces in Christchurch we find ourselves in a new era of urban development where more formal tactical projects are bringing innovative energy to many cities globally. Once purely the product of bottom-up initiatives, governments, businesses, non-profits and designers are now embracing this method of lighter, quicker, cheaper development as this generation’s great urban innovation. But as compelling as these projects often are, marginalised populations are often not represented among the creators, users, and beneficiaries.”
Liz Ogbu’s opening lecture will be held on Thursday 18th August, 6pm at Tusculum, 3 Manning Street, Potts Point.
Image: Droga Architect in Residence Liz Ogbu
