Episode 1: Jo Wright talks about the impact on her career of working in Berlin before the wall came down and designing for the long term

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Today Building has launched a new season of its Building Talks podcast, dedicating four episodes to interviews with leading names in urban design about their approaches to community-building.

New developments can face massive local opposition, attacked for poor design, a lack of public services and low quality civic space.

These are some of the challenges we will be tackling in this series by talking to professionals about their projects, influences and motivations.

Our first guest in today’s episode is Jo Wright, managing director of Perkins & Will, who has a wealth of experience integrating complex multidisciplinary teams and working on largescale urban projects.

She discusses the influence that working in Berlin before the wall came down had on her career, and the need to build for the long term. 

I think as architects and urban designers we have a huge privilege and responsibility to make decisions that hopefully will endure

Jo Wright, Perkins & Will

She says in the interview: “I think as architects and urban designers we have a huge privilege and responsibility to make decisions that hopefully will endure for decades or longer. There’s a longevity in good design which is also fundamental to sustainability.”

Guests in future episodes include Selina Mason at Lendlease, David Rudlin at BDP and Anna Mansfield at Publica. You can listen to their views on how “placemaking” has moved up the agenda, and why the phrase itself is problematic. Most importantly they all address the central question: how can we make the places we work and live in better?

These interviews are part of Building the Future Commission’s focus on creating communities, and the podcast is co-hosted by Building’s architectural editor Ben Flatman and Building’s editor Chloe McCulloch.

>> Also listen to: In conversation with David Rudlin at BDP

>> Also listen to: In conversation with Selina Mason at Lendlease

>> Also listen to: In conversation with Anna Mansfield at Publica

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You can hear episode 1 of the podcast series by clicking on the player at the top of the story and below. And if you wish to subscribe so that you receive each podcast in the series at the time of release each Tuesday, then go to one of the main podcast providers such as Spotify and Apple.

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