What City Planning Got Wrong - and Why It Matters for the future of Network States

​How do places become meaningful to the people who live in them?

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And as we build new kinds of communities - both physical and digital - how can we make sure growth doesn’t come at the cost of human connection?

​In this talk, architect Anna from AVK Architecture explores a recurring pattern from the history of cities: we begin by building around real human needs, we scale and optimise, and then we rediscover the importance of community, walkability, shared space, and belonging.

​By connecting lessons from historic towns, modern cities, and emerging network states, this session offers a practical and hopeful perspective for engineers, founders, designers, and builders shaping the future of the Network School.

​Because the future of this community is not fixed.

​It will be shaped by the choices we make - together.

​Structure of the talk:
This talk will try to be limited to around 40 minutes - then it will be an open discussion at the end.

About the speaker:
Anna runs the architectural studio AVK Architecture. She has worked on over 200 projects worldwide, with a significant focus on the adaptive reuse of buildings. Her design approach is shaped both by her education in Barcelona, Spain - where she completed a five-year architecture degree - and by her extensive professional experience in Norway, which forms a large part of her recent portfolio in housing projects.