Playable City draws inspiration from a global movement of artists and agencies making playful work for the future city, and is collaborating and igniting imaginations all around the world. This panel brings together award-winning creatives Seiichi Saito of Rhizomatiks, Richard Roberts of Jason Bruges Studio and Olamide Udoma of Future Lagos to showcase their ground-breaking global work and discuss the opportunities of a world-wide conversation around Playable City. Chaired by Clare Reddington, Creative Director, Watershed and Executive Producer of The Playable City Award.

Speaker biographies:

Clare Reddington is the Creative Director of Watershed. She joined Watershed in 2004 to work with HP Labs on utility computing animation project SE3D. She leads the Pervasive Media Studio, engagement and cinema teams in Watershed, working with industry, academic and creative partners to support talent and champion new ideas. She was a finalist in the British Council's UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur 2009 and featured in Wired magazine's 100 people who shape the Wired world. She is also Executive Producer of REACT hub and a Visiting Professor at University of the West of England.

Olamide Udoma is a researcher, writer and filmmaker holding degrees in BSc Architecture, MA Design and MPhil Infrastructure Management. She has worked in London, South Africa and Nigeria with various organisations focusing on transport management, slum upgrading and housing rights in urbanising African cities. Currently based in Lagos, she is engaged in bridging the gap between communities and their environment. She is the Lagos manager and editor of Our Future Cities NPO

Seiichi Saito began his career in New York in 2000, after graduating from Columbia University with a Master of Science degree in Advanced Architectural Design. From 2002, he worked at the Arnell Group, and later returned to Japan after being selected for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial event. He is a founding member of Rhizomatiks, and currently serves as its Creative and Technical Director. He also lectures part-time at the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Tokyo University of Science.

Richard Roberts is the Design Manager for Jason Bruges Studio. After studying Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield, he obtained a MArch ARB diploma at the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL where he nurtured a strong interest in interactive architecture and installations. He subsequently worked at Metropolitan Workshop, where he was involved in the complete refurbishment of the Grade II listed Great Central House, Marylebone Station, London. He currently teaches on the Adaptive Architecture & Computation Masters course in the Bartlett Graduate School.

Image: Playable City: Recife 2014, Acquatic Pathways, a photo by Beto Figueiroa

---