Austin Williams
director, Future Cities Project; visiting scholar, XJTLU, Suzhou, China; author, China’s Urban Revolution

Austin Williams is the author of several books, including Enemies of Progress: The Dangers of Sustainability, New Chinese Architecture: 20 Women Building the Future, and co-author of The Lure of the City: From Slums to Suburbs.

He co-founded the mantownhuman manifesto (featured in Penguin Classics’ “100 Artists Manifestos”) and has spoken at conferences from New York to Ningbo; from Hawaii to Hong Kong. He was previously he Technical Editor of The Architects’ Journal, and China correspondent for The Architectural Review.

Austin was one of the 2026 nominees to be President of the RIBA. He is currently the course leader in the Post-Graduate Diploma in the Professional Practice in Architecture Part 3 at Kingston School of Art and hosts the Professional Practice Podcasts.

Follow Austin on X: @Future_Cities

RELATED SESSIONS

Sunday 18 October, 11:00 Robert Runcie Room, Church House
China and the Middle East

Sunday 18 October, 15:45 Westminster Room, Church House
Zoe Strimpel on Good Slut: How Money, Sex and Power Set Women Free