This year we head to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the CTBUH 2023 International Conference. Leading up to it we got the chance to speak with Dr. Antony Wood, the President of CTBUH, about what to expect – both at the conference and in the future!
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is the world’s leading nonprofit organization for all those interested in the future of cities.
It explores how increased urban density and vertical growth can support more sustainable and healthy cities, especially in the face of mass urbanization and the increasing effects of climate change worldwide.
The relationship between policy, buildings, people, urban density, urban space, interior space, and infrastructure is key.
The Council runs hundreds of multidisciplinary programs across the world each year, through its regional chapters and expert committees; its annual conferences and global awards program; through funded research projects and academic collaborations; and via its extensive online resources. Its website provides members the tools to exploit detailed data, images, and technical information on more than 40,000 tall buildings – as well as the cities they inhabit – over the world.
The 2023 Conference Theme is "Humanizing High Density". Its fundamental premise is that high-density urbanization can support healthy living, working, and civic and social engagement. It will examine issues of livability in the ongoing discourse about future cities.
We will do this through 9 tracks of content across two core days in Singapore, with off-site programming and an extension program in Kuala Lumpur following. This year, we combine the annual CTBUH awards program into the conference agenda, integrating examples of not only individual buildings, but urban schemes and broader concepts that will make for a truly holistic offering.
By necessity, high-rises will need to be performative in every sense of the word – energy-efficient, resilient, accommodating, flexible. The world has thrown us a lot of surprises in the past few years (and quite a few things we have seen coming!). Occupiers will be more demanding about real quality and functionality, and perhaps less enamored with sheer height or novelty.
It has been extremely fruitful. We have undertaken dozens of initiatives across the years in collaboration with Schindler, which has supported research into robotics in tall building construction, our annual data study of tall building construction worldwide, and numerous conferences, both via sponsorship and via dozens of presentations on their cutting-edge insights into the world of mobility to our members.
Humanizing High Density – People, Nature & the Urban Realm will advance the fundamental premise that high-density urbanization can support healthy living, working, and civic and social engagement.