WAF 2020 to Focus on 'Greening the City'

The theme is strongly aligned with the host city, as Lisbon is the 2020 European Green Capital. This theme will structure some of the discussions that take place during the three-day festival (December 4-6), starting with a Greening the City webinar on June 18.

As described by WAF on its website:

At one level, the idea of greening concerns landscape design, biodiversity and ecological concerns. However, the idea of the green city in the context of Covid-19 has taken on new dimensions.

Subjects for discussion will include strategies for clean air, greater use of public transport, water quality and supply, and the generation of ‘clean’ energy as part of urban planning strategies across the globe.

The idea of the green city is related to the concept of sustainability, which now includes ideas about the control of pandemics, and the extent to which health concerns can feed into planning and urban design, at both a small and large scale.

This year’s 'Isolation Transformed' competition, a new initiative for 2020, will generate presentations around the subject of Isolation, including ideas about the future adaptation of existing city fabric to take account of potential future health hazards.