Economic growth is the foundation of contemporary politics, society, and architectural production. Yet an increasingly clear link between growth and global warming is prompting many thinkers to question whether, in the near future, we must make a fundamental shift away from always increasing GDP, to a new kind of economy. Degrowth has become a prominent subject of discussion across economics, arts and politics but to date there has been very little investigation into the architecture of degrowth. How architecture will be made and what its social and cultural role will become after growth is an urgent and intriguing question. What kind of architecture will we create when buildings are no longer instruments of finance? How will we form our environment when it is human and ecological equity that matters most? The Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019 investigates these challenging questions using architecture, fiction, performance, and debate.

Maria Smith is an architect working across architecture, engineering, journalism, education, and events. She is founding director of transdisciplinary architecture and engineering practice, Interrobang. Smith is also a director of award-winning structural, civil, and MEP engineering practice Webb Yates Engineers. Established in 2005, Webb Yates Engineers seeks to combine imagination with technical rigor to create artful and inventive structural designs. She is a columnist for the RIBA Journal; a member of the RIBA National Awards Panel; cofounder of Turncoats; and a Design Advocate for the Mayor of London. Smith studied architecture at the University of Bath, Technical University Delft (The Netherlands) and London Metropolitan University. She is currently studying engineering at the Open University.

Matthew Dalziel is an architect and maker working across architecture, education, and research. An associate at Interrobang, Dalziel collaborates with clients from artists to airports, previously working with Stirling Prize-winning Haworth Tompkins on housing, theatres, and cultural buildings. He has taught in the post graduate schools of Kingston University and the London School of Architecture. Dalziel was born in Toronto and trained as a carpenter and architectural technologist before relocating to London in 2003. He studied architecture at The Cass.

Phineas Harper is an architecture critic and designer. He is deputy director of think tank, the Architecture Foundation, and cofounder of the international debating society, Turncoats, with Maria Smith and the New Architecture Writers course for BAME design critics. Harper is a sought-after critic writing regularly for a wide number of publications including Dezeen, The Independent newspaper, the RIBA Journal, DOMUS, Uncube, the Architectural Review and Harvard Design Magazine. He is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art and author of A People’s History of Woodcraft Folk.

Cecilie Sachs Olsen is initiator of the urban art practice zURBS and a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the GeoHumanities, Royal Holloway, University of London. Her work advances innovative and participatory urban research, exploring how artistic practice can analyze and reimagine urban space and politics. She has led over 40 art projects in nine European cities and facilitated workshops and seminars as well as guest-lectured at a wide range of European universities such as Architectural Association School of Architecture, Zurich University of the Arts, Queen Mary University of London, University of Freiburg, University of Ghent, Basel University of the Arts and Applied Sciences, and Academy for Applied Arts Baden-Württemberg.

George Kafka, assistant curator, is a writer, editor and researcher based in London. He contributes regularly to Metropolis, Frieze, Disegno, Blueprint, The Architectural Review and others, writing about architecture and cities. He is a founding member of editorial collective &beyond.

Oslo Architecture Triennale (OAT) is the Nordic region’s biggest architecture festival, and one of the world’s prominent arenas for dissemination and discussion of architectural and urban challenges. Through exhibitions, conferences, debates, publications, and events across different formats and media, OAT seeks to challenge the field of architecture, engage the public, and inspire local, Nordic, and international debates concerning architecture and urbanism. OAT: produces and presents an architecture triennale in the Oslo area every three years, disseminates social issues concerning architecture and urban development, develops the profession and its field of expertise with innovative programs and projects, and is a meeting place for professional environments, city inhabitants and decision makers, and promote international exchange of ideas. Oslo Architecture Triennale is a nonprofit organization and was established on October 13, 2009.