Copenhagen Architecture Forum's Podcast

Inclusion Talks (Ep. 3): What's AI got to do with it? 01.07.2026 49min

AI predictions tend to rest on an averaged notion of what a human being is. In this final episode of Inclusion Talks, we take a closer look at how the growing use of AI in architecture and design processes risks reinforcing historical assumptions about what is deemed 'normal', with the consequence that difference is filtered out, concealed, and ultimately erased. For this conversation, we have invited Canadian professor and director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre, Jutta Treviranus, who argues that the current wave of AI has underscored the importance of genuinely involving those who stand to benefit most from change. Together with former Bevica Scholarship Programme recipient Aleksandra Mostovaja, she explores how we might move towards a future that embraces the full spectrum of human diversity – rather than allowing AI to lead us back into the patterns of the past. On the podcast you will meet: Jutta Treviranus: is a Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) in Toronto, Canada. She is the director and founder of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and the Inclusive Design Institute (IDI) and is a world expert in the field of universal design. Treviranus has established the IDRC as a leading international centre for inclusive design in digital systems and leads the Inclusive Design Institute. Her work has pioneered personalised digital accessibility and contributed significantly to international accessibility standards and legislation. Aleksandra Mostovaja: is a Master Student at Sciences Po Paris and former Bevica Scholarship Programme travel grant recipient for her project Advancing Spatial Equity Through AI: A Study of Universal Design Principles in the Public Sphere in which she has explored how AI understands inclusive language by studying how AI visualises urban landscapes. Moussa Mchangama: is a leading strategic facilitator and change agent in the Nordic cultural conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Inclusion Talks has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. The podcasts are moderated by Moussa Mchangama.

Inclusion Talks (Ep. 2):The Museum as a Space For Inclusion Through Universal Design 23.06.2026 52min

In the second episode of Inclusion Talks: A Universal Design Perspective we zoom in on the role museums and cultural institutions play. Museums have a key role in shaping cultural narratives, yet many still exclude visitors who don't fit the traditional visitor model. In a talk between Camilla Ryhl, Research Director at Bevica Foundation and Academic Lead of Universal Design Hub, Louise Kæmpe Henriksen, curator at the New Viking Ship Museum, and student travel grant winner of the Bevica Scholarship Programme 2025-2026 Camille Wenner from the Royal Danish Academy we explore how universal design and co-designing can be a means to create a more inclusive environment in museums and cultural spaces. Over three episodes of Inclusion Talks we investigate and share stories of how we can collectively create truly inclusionary spaces - spaces that are successful in rethinking our shared spaces, inviting more people in – from physical spaces to AI and digital spaces. On the podcast you will meet: Camille Wenner: Student travel grant winner of the Bevica Scholarship Programme 2026, from the Royal Danish Academy. Louise Kæmper Henriksen: Curator at New Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde Camilla Ryhl: Research Director at Bevica Foundation and Academic Lead of Universal Design Hub. She holds a Master's degree and a PhD in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, and has specialised in universal design and the sensory qualities of architecture, as well as the interpretation and implementation of universal design as an interdisciplinary principle. Moussa Mchangama: Moussa Mchangama is a leading strategic facilitator and change agent in the Nordic cultural conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Inclusion Talks is a podcast that has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. Tune in next Tuesday for the last episode!

Inclusion Talks (Ep. 1): Sustainability Doesn't Happen by Itself 09.06.2026 51min

In our new podcast series Inclusion Talks – A Universal Design Perspective we investigate and share stories of how we can collectively create truly inclusionary spaces - spaces that are successful in rethinking our shared spaces, inviting more people in – from physical spaces to AI and digital spaces. In our first episode we go straight to a fundamental question: What does it truly take to ensure a sustainable future for us all? The question lies at the heart of the Bevica Scholarship Programme, and to answer it we have invited two big capacities. Tune in and hear Camilla Ryhl, Director of Research and Head of the Universal Design Hub at the Bevica Foundation, in conversation with Daura van Vuuren, a former recipient of the scholarship. Moderator Moussa Mchangama asks Camilla Ryhl and Daura van Vuuren: How do we take the right steps towards a sustainable future - without leaving anyone behind? On The Podcast You Will Meet: Daura Van Duuren: Is a former winner of the Bevica Scholarship Programme. In her work, Daura links Denmark's political commitments to global climate action plans with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Denmark ratified in 2009. In 2024, Daura van Vuuren travelled the world to gather knowledge, and if there is one key insight she brought back, it is this: sustainable development does not happen in silos – it happens through collaboration and across disciplines. Camilla Ryhl: Research Director at Bevica Foundation and Academic Lead of Universal Design Hub. She holds a Master's degree and a PhD in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, and has specialised in universal design and the sensory qualities of architecture, as well as the interpretation and implementation of universal design as an interdisciplinary principle. Moussa Mchangama: Moussa Mchangama is a leading strategic facilitator and change agent in the Nordic cultural conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Inclusion Talks is a podcast that has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. Tune in the next two Tuesday for more engaging conversations on creating an inclusionary future.

Unaffordables Ep. 3: 'Keys and Queues' with Olaf Grawert, Bent Madsen, Matthias Nordby, Camilla van Deurs and Line Thorup Schultz 08.06.2026 17min

Who gets access to housing when there is not enough to go around? In the final episode of Unaffordables, we move beyond construction and economics to explore the political and ethical questions at the heart of housing affordability. Should access to housing be determined by the market alone, or are alternative models needed to ensure fair and incdlusive cities? Moderated by Olaf Grawert (HouseEurope!), the discussion brings together Matthias Nordby (Urban Studio), Camilla van Deurs (Nordic Office of Architecture), Line Thorup Schultz (VELUX), and Bent Madsen (Danish Federation of Non-Profit Housing and former President of Housing Europe). From the Danish non-profit housing model to the relationship between housing and democracy itself, this episode asks what it takes to create cities where people can not only arrive — but stay. Unaffordables is a three-part podcast series commissioned by Living Places and VELUX.

Unaffordables Ep. 2: 'Forms & Footprints' with Sinus Lynge, Steffen Enersen Maagaard, Wietse de Vries, Valérie Vermandel and Mads Rude 08.06.2026 20min

Can we build our way out of the housing crisis without deepening the climate crisis? In this episode of Unaffordables, we look at the physical realities of creating affordable homes in a world where seven of the nine planetary boundaries have already been breached. From adaptive reuse and bio-based materials to investment models and regulation, the discussion explores how housing can be delivered sustainably, affordably, and at scale. Moderated by Sinus Lynge, co-founder of EFFEKT Architects, the conversation features Steffen Enersen Maagaard (Artelia), Wietse de Vries (Bouwgroep Dijkstra Draisma), Valérie Vermandel (Whitewood Developers), and Mads Rude (PATRIZIA). Together, they ask: how do we provide housing that is affordable, healthy, and environmentally responsible — without compromising on quality? Unaffordables is a three-part podcast series commissioned by Living Places and VELUX.

Unaffordables Ep. 1: 'Pulls & Pressures' with Finn Williams, Kath Scanlon, Olaf Grawert, Anne-Mette Boye and Lars Jensen 08.06.2026 18min

Why has housing become unaffordable in so many cities across Europe? In the first episode of Unaffordables, we explore the forces driving the housing crisis and the growing pressures on urban housing markets. As more people are drawn to cities, demand is increasingly shaped not only by residents, but also by tourism, short-term rentals, and international investment. Is the problem simply a lack of housing supply — or is it a question of what we build, and who we build it for? Moderated by Finn Williams, City Architect of Malmö, this conversation brings together Kath Scanlon (London School of Economics), Anne-Mette Boye (City Architect of Aarhus), Lars Jensen (City Architect of Copenhagen), and Olaf Grawert (HouseEurope!) to examine one of the defining challenges facing European cities today. Unaffordables is a three-part podcast series commissioned by Living Places and VELUX.

Archive: Sharing The City With Microbes 02.06.2026 30min

Today we conclude our three-week dive back into Living With Other Species. A series exploring how to plan and live alongside other species in the cities of the future. With todays episode we turn our attention to the smallest and often most overlooked inhabitants of the city: microbes. From the soil beneath our feet to the materials that make up our buildings, microbial life shapes the health and resilience of urban environments. So what happens when we begin to think of the city as a living microbial ecology? And how might processes such as decomposition, fermentation, and soil regeneration inform the way we design and inhabit urban space? On the podcast you will meet: Adam Bencard: Researcher and curator at the The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research and at the Medical Museion. Bencard is interested in what he calls "molecular being." This concept revolves around the idea that we, as human beings, are fundamentally a part of an expansive, material network, stretching inside and outside of our bodies. Marie Sainabou Jeng: Marie Sainabou Jeng is the founder and program director of Madland. Madland is a food political community for rethinking the food system. They are co-created by people vested in changing traditional food systems and actively working towards a more sustainable way of producing and eating. Madland embraces all the agents out there who both develop and nurture Denmark as a food nation.  Lasse Antoni Carlsen: Is an urban farming expert and food system innovator, dedicated to advancing modular, sustainable farming that bring specialty ingredients like mushrooms closer to consumers - improving the accessibility to sustainable quality food.  Gerd Laura Juul Dahl is moderating the conversation.

Archive: 'The City is a Garden' with Anna Aslaug, Skye Jin and Studio Coquille 26.05.2026 58min

Urban infrastructure does merely mean roads, pipes, and buildings. Soil, water flows, trees, and fungi are infrastructure too. This episode moves away from the idea that gardens belong at the edges of development or appear afterward as cosmetic additions. Instead, it asks whether the city itself can be understood as a form of cultivation: something living, maintained, and ecologically embedded rather than engineered into independence. For what if the city is not separate from the landscape around it, but continuous with it, dependent on living systems that modern planning often treats as background or decoration? And how might we question the belief that sustainability will come mainly through smarter technologies and greater efficiency, rather than through practices of ecological reciprocity? On the episode you will meet: Anna Aslaug Lund: architect and landscape architect MAA, Ph.D. at Schønherr, and author of The City as a Garden. Skye Jin: artist, educator, permaculture designer, and cultural sustainability advisor. Studio Coquille: Marion de Lingua de St Blanquat and Frederik Mads Svendsen, the architects behind The Habitable Skin, together with TERROIR, in collaboration with Lasse Carlsen and MYCO.

Archive: Should We Make Cities for Insects? with Hjalte Calberg Ro-Poulsen & Studio Coquille 19.05.2026 58min

Today at Halmtorvet 27, we're hosting an event exploring how other species can become part of the political community. So what better time to dive into the podcast archive for an episode on how to create cities where insects can actually thrive? Among many other fascinating insights, you'll learn how Copenhagen's biggest electronic music festival - and its guests - help create ideal living conditions for the city's insect populations. On the episode you can meet: Studio Coquille: Marion de Lingua de St Blanquat and Frederik Mads Svendsen. The architects behind The Habitable Skin, along with TERROIR, in collaboration with Lasse Carlsen and MYCO Hjalte Calberg Ro-Poulsen: Biologist/entomologist/melittologist who conducts research, provides consultancy, and teaches about land and urban management based on the needs of wild bees and other insects at Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen.

Archive: Material Responsibility From Cradle to Cradle with Anders Lendager 12.05.2026 38min

In this first episode on the policy proposal of Material Ownership, drafted by architect and founder of Lendager, Anders Lendager, we sit down with Anders alongside Co-Founder of both Home. Earth & Transformer.Build Kasper Guldage Jensen, Vice President of Global Sales at Fritz Hansen, Martin Scharff and Senior Adviser at construction company DI Byggeri, Jakob Thaysen Rørbech to discuss the proposal for the extended producer responsibility for construction products. Read the law proposal at this link. This podcast was produced by KoozArch in collaboration with Copenhagen Architecture Biennial.

Archive: "Right to Housing! Now and Forever" with HouseEurope! 05.05.2026 1h 28min

This week we are revisiting an episode from last year, to celebrate our newly announced fellowship with HouseEurope! Instead of demolishing and rebuilding, HouseEurope! calls for sustainable renovation and adaptive reuse, pushing for new EU laws that protect and prioritize existing spaces. Our joint fellowship invites talented young professionals from the fields of law and architecture to join forces for a week in Copenhagen, to question existing laws and take steps to create a more sustainable building sector and world. Last year, using the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), HouseEurope! mobilized people across Europe to demand policies that favor preservation over demolition, with the goal of collecting one million signatures from at least seven countries. The podcast was made on the day the initiative kicked off. The live conversation features leading voices from architecture, urbanism, and activism. On the podcast you will meet: • Søren Pihlmann (Founder, Pihlmann Architects / Danish Architecture Pavilion - Venice Biennale 2025) • Lars Autrup (CEO, Arkitektforeningen) • Jacob Blak Henriksen (Head of Sustainability Architect, Cobe) • Tamara Kalantajevska (Head of Urbanism, Schmidt Hammer Lassen / KADK) • Kasper Benjamin Reimer Bjørkskov (Founder, No Objectives) • Erik Valdemar Eriksen (Activist, Den Grønne Studenterbevægelses Klimaaktivistisk Tegnestue) • Dominique Hauderowicz (Founder, Studio Dominique Serena / Danish Architecture Pavilion – Venice Biennale 2027) • Esben Thorlacius (Partner, Over Byen Arkitekter) The discussion is moderated by Enlai Hooi, Head of Innovation at Schmidt Hammer Lassen.

Archive: "Architecture is more than buildings in cities" 29.04.2026 12min

As debates about rural life resurface across Denmark, including in Altinget's highly recommended podcast Aftryk, the countryside is once again being cast as a political battleground. The debate is not new, but it is encouraging to see it begin to move beyond a long-standing assumption: that the countryside mainly matters insofar as it serves the urban environement or the agricultural industry. It led us to revisit this episode from the archives with the Danish architecture studio Rural Agency, which enters that shift. Are we operating within an underlying urban bias? And what would it mean to take the rural seriously as a place of life, ecology, and practice in its own right?

Archive: Exploring the Future of Danish Architecture 22.04.2026 23min

Many still assume that buildings must excite. They must capture attention, produce images, and offer experiences. Boredom is treated as failure. But this reveals a hidden intuition that human beings need constant stimulation to remain engaged. What if this intuition is wrong? This episode explores that question. It suggests that architecture has become entangled in a psychological economy of attention, reflected in approaches such as hedonistic sustainability. Here, the "good" solution is often the one that is also pleasurable, fun, and instantly rewarding. But this carries a risk. What if what produces short-term value for the touristic gaze undercuts long-term trust for citizens? What if the constant appeal to excitement leaves less room for quieter qualities such as rest, awe, and integrity? Over the past five years, several institutions have pointed to the emergence of a new paradigm in Danish architecture, described as a new subtlety or as an ecological turn. In this episode, Kristoffer Lindhardt Weiss (a renowned Danish architecture critic, writer, and CEO of Danish Architectural Press) and Anne Beim (Head of Centre for Industrial Architecture at the Danish School of Architecture) reflect on how to understand this shift and what it leaves behind.

Archive: "Convenience Is Not Progress" with anthropologist Jeanette Lykkegård 15.04.2026 57min

Modern life is built on a simple promise: the more comfortable, stable, and controlled our surroundings become, the better our lives will be. We insulate ourselves from weather, reduce friction in daily routines, and design spaces that are predictable and easy to navigate. Progress, in this view, means minimizing effort and exposure. But this logic may carry an unintended cost. This week, we return to our podcast archive. As the exhibition Tales of a Nomadic City at Halmtorvet 27 enters its final days, we revisit a conversation on nomadic life and forms of knowledge, asking what such ways of living might reveal about our own attachment to comfort. For If making life easier also reduces our engagement, then the pursuit of constant comfort risks becoming a trap; not because it feels bad, but because, over time, we begin to feel less at all. On the episode you will meet: Jeanette Lykkegård: A postdoctoral researcher in anthropology at Aarhus University. Her work explores how communities understand life, death, and transformation in Arctic and circumpolar contexts. Pavels Hedström: An award-winning Swedish architect based in Copenhagen and Tokyo. With a background in architecture and extreme environments, he investigates how design can reconnect humans with non-human life and broader planetary systems.

Slow Down: Architecture and Extreme Environments (2/2) 01.04.2026 51min

Listen to the second podcast series Slow Down. A conversation between David Garcia and Kristoffer Weiss on the architecture of extreme environments. An important conversation on the future of architecture in a world of increasingly extreme conditions. In this second and last episode of Slow Down we delve into the architecture of extreme environments with a true expert: David A. Garcia. Since 2013 he has been the director of the Master Program "Architecture and Extreme Environments" at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation. And last year Garcia published the book Extreme Environments - Architectural Possibilities for a Challenged World. From the cold expanses of the Arctic to the desert regions of the Gobi and pollution-heavy industrial territories, the book investigates how architects can integrate site-specific presence, fieldwork and investigations, local knowledge and contemporary technological advancements to create resilient alternatives both at home and abroad. On the episode you will meet: David A. Garcia: Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Art Academy School of Architecture and director of the Master program "Architecture and Extreme Environments" since 2013. His work focuses on exploring site-specific actions in extreme environments, merging arts and sciences and challenging standard approaches to architecture. Kristoffer Lindhardt Weiss: Director of Danish Architectural Press. He has a background in philosophy from the University of Copenhagen and the Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris IV.

Slow Down: The Slow Violence of Sand Extraction (1/2) 25.03.2026 53min

We are back with a new podcast series! Listen to the first episode of Slow Down, a series investigating ways to slow down overheated sites, cities, and societies. In this episode, we follow a deep dive into the Køge Bay and explore the violent praxis of marine sand extraction. As part of her PhD, Emma Rishøj Holm descends to the seabed to experience firsthand the hidden consequences of marine sand extraction — a practice that is accelerating as land-based resources disappear, yet remains largely invisible. Together with Tideland Studio and marine biologist Stiig Markager, the conversation unfolds across ecology, infrastructure, and architecture, tracing a slow violence that reshapes the seabed — and exploring how architecture might play a role in bringing attention to it. In the episode you will meet: Emma Rishøj Holm: PhD Fellow at Arkitektskolen Aarhus. Focusing on sand extraction in the Køge Bay and sand-related proposals for material solutions in the construction industry. Tideland Studio: A research-based design studio merging architecture with artistic expression, technological innovation and holistic sustainability. Through a profound understanding of both our natural and built environments, we design solutions, stories and experiences that resonate, transform and enrich. Stiig Markager: Professor in marine ecology and biogeochemistry at the Department of Ecoscience at Aarhus University. A prominent voice in the Danish discussion about agriculture's impact on the marine environment.

Living With Other Species: Microbial Architecture (3/3) 17.03.2026 30min

Today we conclude Living With Other Species. A series exploring how to plan and live alongside other species in the cities of the future. The last episode is a talk on how microbes and human well-being is connected through soil ecologies, building materials, and urban planning—and how acknowledging processes of decay can inform healthier, more resilient cities. What happens when we begin to think of the city as a living microbial ecology? On the podcast you will meet: Marie Sainabou Jeng: Is the founder and program director of Madland. A food policy hub and community by and for the micro-level. Together, they rethink and transform food systems with social responsibility Adam Bencard: Researcher and curator at the The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research and at the Medical Museion Lasse Antoni Carlsen: Is an urban farming expert and food system innovator, dedicated to advancing modular, sustainable farming that bring specialty ingredients like mushrooms closer to consumers - improving the accessibility to sustainable quality food.  Founder of BYGAARD. Gerd Laura Juul Dahl is moderating the conversation.

Living With Other Species: Insect Urbanism (2/3) 10.03.2026 58min

Living With Other Species is back! The second episode, "The Insect As Worker and Citizen", is a conversation on the role of insects as urban workers with - pollinators, decomposers, and ecosystem engineers. How might cities look if we began to think of insects not only as inhabitants, but as workers and citizens of the city? The episode asks how designing with (and for) them challenges aesthetic norms, maintenance culture, and anthropocentric planning. On the episode you'll meet: - Hjalte Calberg Ro-Poulsen: Biologist/entomologist/melittologist who conducts research, provides consultancy, and teaches about land and urban management based on the needs of wild bees and other insects at Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen. - Studio Coquille: Marion de Lingua de St Blanquat and Frederik Mads Svendsen. The architects behind The Habitable Skin, along with TERROIR, in collaboration with Lasse Carlsen and MYCO.  The studio focuses on creating organic, sensory experiences that promote biological connections and co-creation between buildings and landscapes. "The Insect as Worker and Citizen" is a part of the podcast series Living With Other Species. The series explores how to plan and live alongside other species in the cities of the future. Moving across scales from regional planning to the secret lives of bats, ants, and microbes, we shift our gaze to imagine new forms of interspecies cohabitation.

Archive: Biochemist Irina Iachina Lets Spiders Weave the Future of Design 03.03.2026 48min

This week we're taking a short break from the Living With Other Species podcast series to revisit our extensive archive. But we continue our focus on the lives and architectures of other species — and what we might learn from them. What follows is a conversation in which biochemist Irina Iachina shares her groundbreaking work on biomimicry, focusing on spider silk as a model for sustainable innovation. The talk was held as part of architect Pavels Hedströms exhibition Strange Adaptions, which was on display at Halmtorvet 27 from late 2024 into 2025. Next week, Living With Other Species returns — with a conversation on The Insect As Worker and Citizen.

Living with Other Species: The City as a Garden (1/3) 24.02.2026 58min

From today you can listen to the first episode of Living With Other Species. A conversation on regional planning for all species, infrastructural imagination, and permaculture. Listen, as we dwell on a simple but far-reaching provocation: the city as a garden. What do we see when we conceive of the city as a garden? And how can we promote the garden-like qualities of the city? On the podcast you'll meet: Anna Aslaug Lund: Landscape Architect at Schønherr and author of The City as a Garden Skye Jin: Artist, educator, permaculture designer, and cultural sustainability advisor Studio Coquille: The architects behind The Habitable Skin, along with TERROIR, in collaboration with Lasse Carlsen and MYCO.