Leo Van Broeck (Antwerp, 1958) is a leading Flemish engineer-architect who has made an undeniable mark in the field of urban planning and sustainability. From 2016 to 2020, Van Broeck served as the fourth Flemish Government Architect. He is the co-founder of the architectural firm Bogdan & Van Broeck and a lecturer in architectural and urban design at KULeuven. He has brought the debate on urban planning out of meeting rooms’ confines and into the public agenda, advocating for inclusivity, sustainability, and biodiversity conservation.

Discover the essence of the city and the path to a sustainable future! In this lecture, Leo Van Broeck delves into what truly defines a city: its diversity, contradictions, and continuous evolution. A city is a living process, shaped by people, cultures, the economy, and policymakers. But let’s not forget that our future depends on a sustainable approach to urban development. Leo Van Broeck advocates for spatial humility, acknowledging that we cannot claim more than 70% of Earth’s fertile land for our needs. Hence, he calls for urban densification, towards a city accessible to people from diverse backgrounds. Let’s embark on a journey towards a city that thrives on its diversity, where sustainability and inclusivity are at the heart of concerns. It’s time to rethink the economic model, with the city at the center. Endless growth is not sustainable; we must strive for qualitative growth: better quality in less space, based on new sharing economies and cooperative economic models.