Austin Williams

Austin Williams is associate professor in architecture at XJTLU, Suzhou, China; and director of the Future Cities Project in London. He is also the managing editor of www.MasterplanningtheFuture.org - the first independent, online architecture magazine in China.

Williams is the author of The Enemies of Progress: The dangers of sustainability and co-editor of The Future of Community and The Lure of the City: From Slums to Suburbs. He is currently writing China’s Urban Revolution: Understanding Chinese Eco-Cities (Bloomsbury) and 20 Chinese Architects (Thames & Hudson). His other books include The Enemies of Progress: The dangers of sustainability, The Future of Community and The Lure of the City: From Slums to Suburbs. He is the China correspondent for the Architectural Review and a founding member of New Narratives.

In London he retains his position as director at FCP Ltd, an independent film-making production unit specialising in architecture and the built environment. He also devised and chairs the Bookshop Barnies.

Related Sessions
Friday 26 October 2012, 6.30pm Foyles Charing Cross, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB

Publications

The Future of Community: Reports of a Death Greatly Exaggerated (ed, with Alastair Donald, Martin Earnshaw and Dave Clements) (Pluto Press, 2008)
Enemies of Progress: The Dangers of Sustainability  (Societas, 2008)

Africa and oil

"The Battle of Ideas is a weekend like no other. I found the 2011 festival immensely stimulating. It gave me a great deal to think about, and a whole new list of books to read - from Virgil to Vygotsky. On to greater battles in 2012!"
Ken Macleod, award-winning science fiction writer; author, The Restoration Game and Intrusion

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