Talks, conversations & lectures

Usman speaks internationally to a broad range of audiences, from members of the public to designers, artists, architects, urbanists, academics, business leaders and local authorities. He is equally comfortable making complex topics accessible to non-experts as getting into technical details, founded on practical knowledge from the projects and platforms he has created over the last three decades.

Topics architecture cities data & society design & the climate emergency environmental sensing & air quality governance interactive architecture internet of things networked urban environments open systems participatory systems people & nature responsible design & technology rewilding & urban wilding social impact of technology urban platforms
2025
Architecture of Entanglement
Architecture of Entanglement
TH/NGS 2025 Keynote (with Ling Tan)
Dec 2025
2023
Towards an Ecological Turn in Design
Towards an Ecological Turn in Design
Presentation and discussion hosted by Prof. Oliver Szasz
May 2023
An Approach to Architecture
An Approach to Architecture
Singapore University of Technology and Design
Apr 2023
2022
Shaping Ecological Futures
Shaping Ecological Futures
Global Design Forum 2022
Oct 2022
Wild Cities – with Rosanna Vitiello
Wild Cities – with Rosanna Vitiello
WRLDCTY
Feb 2022
2021
Infrastructures for Participation
Infrastructures for Participation
Domus Academy
April 2021
What Will Our View of Nature Bring to the Future?
What Will Our View of Nature Bring to the Future?
Invisible Dust
March 2021
Designing Restorative Environments
Designing Restorative Environments
Media Architecture Biennale
2021
2019
Lecture
Lecture
Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg
Sept 2019
2018
What Can You Do With The "Smart" City?
What Can You Do With The "Smart" City?
Canadian Centre for Architecture
2018
2017
Keynote
Keynote
Design Modelling Symposium, Paris
2017
Infrastructures for Participation
WWIOT Day
2017
Who Designs, Who Decides
Who Designs, Who Decides
MEDIATIONS Conference, TRADERS project
November 2017
Mutually Assured Construction
Mutually Assured Construction
Usman Haque talk at Re:publica, Berlin
May 2017
2016
Infrastructures for Participation
ThingsCon, Amsterdam
2016
Making decisions about technologies that make decisions about us
Making decisions about technologies that make decisions about us
TedxExeter, Exeter
2016
London 2080
London 2080
With Kim Stanley Robinson
2016
2015
Searching for the internet of things
Searching for the internet of things
The potential of the internet of things
December 2015
Who Designs? Who Decides?
Who Designs? Who Decides?
Future Everything Signals of Tomorrow, Singapore
October 2015
Tools for Citizen Empowerment - Usman Haque
Tools for Citizen Empowerment - Usman Haque
Talk on Messy Cities at Brain Bar Budapest
June 2015
Mini Burble by Umbrellium | Quays Culture
Mini Burble by Umbrellium | Quays Culture
Mini Burble in Salford, UK
July 2015
Systems Of Participation
Artist's Talk, Quays Culture
July 2015
What is it that you design? Who is it that designs? Who decides?
What is it that you design? Who is it that designs? Who decides?
Innovative City Forum 2015, Tokyo
2015
Civic engagement in urban development
Civic engagement in urban development
Smart City Expo World Congress
2015
Cities and Citizen Empowerment
Cities and Citizen Empowerment
HackCambridge
2015
2014
Usman Haque - feature
Cathay Pacific
2014
Architecture presentation
archiboo
2014
Data Drama - Session 2 - Another Public
Princeton School of Architecture
2014
Interview with Mischa Dohler and Usman Haque
Interview with Mischa Dohler and Usman Haque
IOT360 Summit
November 2014
Making sense - Data discovery, entitlement & agency, Talk at Structure Connect 2014
October 2014
Mini Burble Creative vision
Mini Burble Creative vision
Interview with Umbrellium founding partner, Usman Haque
October 2014
Assemblance at the Barbican's Digital Revolution
Project development and interviews.
July 2014
In Praise of Messy Cities
In Praise of Messy Cities
Usman Haque @ CyberSalon Smart Cities II
May 2014
Canary or the coal mine - data, meaning and the internet of things
Canary or the coal mine - data, meaning and the internet of things
ThingsCon, Berlin.
May 2014
Smart People, Dumb Objects, Networked Environments
Talk at ProductTank 2014
April 2014
In Praise of Messy Cities
In Praise of Messy Cities
Lecture at The Bartlett, UCL Faculty of the Built Environment
March 2014
2013
Participatory Platforms for the Internet of Things
Participatory Platforms for the Internet of Things
Talk at ThingMonk 2013
December 2013
Living in an Age of Algorithmic Culture
Living in an Age of Algorithmic Culture
Panel discussion, Future Everything 2013
March 2013
Grub Street & the Super Wicked – In Praise of Messy Cities
Grub Street & the Super Wicked – In Praise of Messy Cities
Future Everything 2013
March 2013
The Qualities of IoT
The Qualities of IoT
Gigaom
2013
Making Data - an interview
ESWC Summer School
2013
2012
Projects presentation
University of the Arts, London
2012
Demanding devices - Usman Haque
NESTA, London
2012
Connecting Citizens
Connecting Citizens
Talk at Future London 2012
November 2012
Qualities of Data
Situated Technologies - Beneath and Beyond Big Data
April 2012
Data, Napkins, and Digital Urbanism
ARUP Digital Studio Presentation, Sydney
March 2012
Open Data & The Internet of Things
Open Data & The Internet of Things
Keynote at Strata 2012
March 2012
Social Cities of Tomorrow, Keynote
Social Cities of Tomorrow, Keynote
Keynote at Social Cities of Tomorrow conference, organised by Virtueel Platform.
February 2012
Structures of Participation
Structures of Participation
Improving Reality, Lighthouse Arts
2012
Lecture
Lecture
Designing Geopolitics 2, University of California, San Diego
2012
Lecture
Lecture
Beneath and Beyond Big Data, The Architectural League
April 2012
2011
Interview
Interview
SmartGeometry
2011
Studio Talk
RCA Interaction Experience Design
2011
2010
Notes on the design of participatory systems
IIT Institute of Design
2010
Natural Fuse - interview
Toward the Sentient City
2010
Architecture, Interaction Systems
Architecture, Interaction Systems
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2010
Platforms for Participation
Platforms for Participation
Future of Technology, University of Michigan Taubman College
2010
2009
Pachube and Connected Environments
lift09
2009
Natural Fuse
Architectural League of New York
2009
2005
Sky Ear - Structural experiments on electromagnetic fields
Sky Ear - Structural experiments on electromagnetic fields
transmediale 2005
2005
Lecture at the Architecture Association
Lecture at the Architecture Association
With Armin Medosch, Part of Wireless London & The AA - Civic Communications
2005