There is a growing interest in making inclusion a positive goal for companies, teams, and products. To begin developing and growing inclusive practices in company culture and in the design process for mass-scaled technology is challenging. What makes it even more difficult is the void of information on how to practice inclusive design for digital technologies. If inclusive design is good design, how do we even begin to unpack the tension between building something universal at scale that is also meaningful on a personal level? How do we make the inclusive design choices to minimize the mismatches that create barriers and often are the building blocks of exclusion? When inclusion guides the answers to these questions, it becomes much more than a good idea. It becomes an economic imperative.

The planning decisions we make today will impact our cities for generations. As cities evolve, architects and designers need to think about making cities resilient to change--from climate change to the ways in which we live and work. Cities have also become centres for innovation and inclusion. New York-based architects Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi will share their recent projects and upcoming research and work on their approaches to improving the livability and success of our delicate yet resilient urban environments.

Marina Tabassum believes in the power of community, tradition and land as essential ingredients for meaningful design. In her native Bangladesh, she creates architecture that exudes a deep respect for climate and sense of place. The results are spectacular, often involving the ornamentation of surface through light, or the enrichment of spaces by empowering users with celebratory and functional communal spaces. Born in Dhaka, home to 20 million souls, Tabassum established her practice in 2005, 10 years after graduating from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), a school whose architecture curriculum is modeled after Texas A&M University. Exposed to many cultures, she understands both the universal appeal and the ethical responsibility to design for the specificity of place.

Drawing from a long and varied career that has touched on everything from digital, graphic and retail design; product, retail and project development; and strategy and creative direction, Mick McConnell is now turning his attention to the future of workplace design. In conversation with Dan Howarth, U.S. editor at Dezeen, McConnell explains the focus of his role at WeWork—an international company that provides shared workspaces for startups, freelancers, small businesses and Fortune 500 companies. As the VP and head of WeWork’s concept studio, McConnell creates and experiments across many scales, from objects to strategies, and brings ideas to reality faster by bridging between groups, from research to implementation. By creating a test case for emerging technologies, piloting new ideas, and storytelling to spark discussion and action, he's helped WeWork to rapidly grow into one of the largest tech companies in the world.

With a background in architecture, Dan moved into journalism after university as an intern for Dezeen before becoming a full-time member of the editorial team in June 2012. He was promoted to design editor in 2014 where he was responsible for the magazine’s design content. In 2015, Dan became deputy editor and was also shortlisted for the Professional Publishers Association (PPA) Writer of the Year and PPA Digital Writer of the Year awards. After helping to establish Dezeen's New York office in May 2015, Dan moved to the US full time in March 2016. He now leads a growing team that covers architecture and design across the Americas.