Housing is perhaps architecture’s most tested claim to social purpose, and its most visible point of failure. Today, in New York as in cities around the world, the housing crisis is not an abstraction, but a force shaping urban life, raising questions that architecture alone cannot answer but cannot afford to ignore. The final session of Summit 2026 was conceived as a civic forum, a sustained exchange on what a genuinely liveable New York might look like, and what it would take to build one.

Featuring Alejandro Aravena and Tatiana Bilbao—two of the most influential architects addressing how we accommodate urban populations today—the discussion brought the specific expertise of the profession into the public sphere, offering concrete models, instructive lessons, and grounded, innovative approaches with the potential to inform New York’s own housing agenda.

The conversation was moderated by Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for The New York Times, and joined by Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning in New York City. It was recorded during the third session of The World Around Summit 2026, a full-day program dedicated to Architecture’s Now, Near & Next.

Taking place at The Museum of Modern Art, the program was co-organized by Beatrice Galilee, founder and executive director of The World Around, and Martino Stierli, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art.