The Lisbon Triennale 2025: a journey into urban life

In autumn 2025, Lisbon will once again become the beating heart of architectural and urban exploration. The 7th Lisbon Architecture Triennial, staged from 2 October to 8 December 2025, invites people to ponder the question: "How Heavy is a City?", by entering a world of imagination, reflection and discovery, and starting a conversation about the future of urban life.

Cities today are extraordinary creations, growing at an overwhelming pace and reshaping the planet in ways we’re only beginning to understand. They demand immense amounts of energy, materials, and data to thrive, expand, and adapt. But they’re not just about building—they’re also spaces of destruction, erosion, and even extinction. To truly grasp the phenomenon of urbanization, we need to look beyond the traditional idea of a city, beyond its visible boundaries, and explore its far-reaching impacts.

Curators Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino challenge us to rethink what a city really is: "The word 'city' is familiar to us all, yet its meaning has transformed over time. What is a city today? Where does it begin and end? How can we measure it, and what does it mean to live within its ever-changing boundaries?"

Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Connecting History to the Present

The journey into this theme begins with a glance at Lisbon’s past. The Great Earthquake of 1755 didn’t just reshape the city physically—it sparked a monumental conversation about humanity’s relationship with the Earth. It led to innovations in architecture and technology as tools to stabilize human life against nature’s unpredictability.

Fast-forward 270 years, and the situation is reversed. Today, human actions rival natural forces in their magnitude and impact. The Triennale provides a stage for architects, artists, scientists, and policymakers to gather and reflect on these groundbreaking changes. Together, they’ll explore the forces transforming the spaces we inhabit, from cutting-edge technologies to environmental challenges, and examine how architecture can shape a sustainable future.

Lisbon as a cultural canvas

This celebration of ideas takes place across five of Lisbon’s most iconic cultural spaces, each offering unique experiences:

• At the Sinel de Cordes Palace, the Triennale’s headquarters, visitors will find a vibrant mix of exhibitions, talks, and experimental projects. This is where emerging voices in architecture come to shine.
• At MUDE – Museum of Design and Fashion, the exhibition Spectres uses innovative tools like sonar and radar to uncover the hidden, “ghostly” dimensions of modern cities.
• At the MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Fluxes transforms an old coal power plant into a powerful immersive installation, highlighting the vast entanglements of human-made waste.
• The CCB – Belém Cultural Centre hosts Lighter, an exhibition imagining low-carbon, socially just cities that can renew urban life and help restore the planet’s biosphere.
• Finally, the Gulbenkian Foundation will be the setting for Talk Talk Talk, a three-day series of lively debates and lectures, capped off each evening with informal discussions over a glass of wine.

A global call to action

Since 2007, the Lisbon Architecture Triennale has been more than just a festival—it’s a global platform for dialogue and action. It’s a place where architecture becomes a force for social change.

Whether you’re an architect, a designer, or simply curious about the world we live in, the Triennale offers opportunities to get involved. Independent Project submissions are open until 20 January 2025, and young professionals under 40 can apply for the Début Award until 24 February 2025.

The city is waiting for you. Will you answer the call?

>>> Also discover all the winners of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2024