Architecture’s Now, Near & Next: The World Around Summit 2025 at MoMA

In a world shaped by urgent climate imperatives and cultural transformation, The World Around Summit 2025 convenes a day of design dialogues that demand attention. The 6th edition of the Summit will be hosted for the first time at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on April 27. Co-curated with MoMA’s Emilio Ambasz Institute—promises a blend of radical ideas and global action. 

As a media partner of the Summit, METROPOLIS will be streaming the event on Sunday April 27th from 11 AM (ET), below and on our hompage.

“We hold the Summit in New York because of the sheer density of decision-makers that impact global development.” Beatrice Galilee, founder and executive director of The World Around, says.

The central theme, “Architecture’s Now, Near & Next,” echoes throughout the multidisciplinary program, where voices from all corners of the globe explore how the built environment can meet today’s most critical challenges. From Bangkok’s vibrant streets to Morocco’s villages, the summit captures architecture not as a static discipline, but as a living, evolving conversation. Sustainability is core at Nzinga B. Mboup’s Dakar-based practice, Worofila, which champions bioclimatic design rooted in earth and local materials. Alina Kolar’s work with HouseEurope! pushes for legislative action to make renovation—not demolition—the new norm across the EU. Meanwhile, Salima Naji’s efforts in Morocco adapt traditional architectural wisdom for contemporary resilience, protecting cultural identity while embracing progress.

Cultural equity pulses through the projects of Chris Cornelius, whose studio:indigenous fuses Native American values into experiential spaces, and Anne Holtrop, whose architecture in Bahrain challenges the scale and typology of conventional design. Vyjayanthi Rao and Kush Badhwar’s “Beneath the Placid Lake” contributes a layered anthropological lens, unpacking urban complexities from Mumbai to the world.

Design legends Douglas Cardinal, Mauricio Rocha, and Elizabeth Diller will anchor the conversation with decades of visionary experience while rising voices like Daryan Knoblauch and landscape architect Jung Youngsun highlight innovative intersections of nature, heritage, and futurism. Artist Josh Kline probes the societal consequences of emergent technologies, reminding us that architecture extends into the social fabric.

The four winners of this year’s Young Climate Prize will present their solutions, ranging from “sandponic” and hydroponic systems to grow food in a desert refuge camp to a smokeless cooking solution that will revolutionize access to energy in rural Nigeria.

Accessibility remains key: With pay-what-you-can tickets and global live streams, the Summit ensures its wealth of ideas is accessible to all.

Carson Chan, Director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute at MoMA, remarked that “over the years, we have engaged with so many of the speakers featured at MoMA, and bringing them together at the museum to collectively address the environmental, ecological, and social urgencies of today’s climate polycrisis will forge a powerful moment of solidarity. This convergence underscores the architecture community’s shared commitment to advancing a just and livable future.”

In a time of global reckoning, The World Around 2025 isn’t just a summit—it’s a catalyst.

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