Living Cities: People Power in Cities - Amanda Tattersall and Kurt Iveson in conversation with Vafa Ghazavi

With billions now living in cities, hopes for the future depend on the power of ordinary people to shape urban life. In an era of inequality, authoritarianism and climate change, what does it take for people to come together and change their city for good? Join Amanda Tattersall and Kurt Iveson as they discuss their book People Power in Cities, revealing the strategies people are using to realise dignity and freedom in the places they live. Click here to register Amanda Tattersal is a community organiser and Associate Professor in urban geography at the University of Sydney, researching how people build power. Her books include Power in Coalition (2010) and Conscious Tribes: Thinking Differently About Making a Difference (2026). She is a co-founder of GetUp and founder of the Sydney Alliance. Amanda has pioneered a relational research method, and since 2019 has convened the Real Deal for Australia project on community-led climate transitions. She also hosts the ChangeMakers Podcast, which has had over 2 million downloads. Kurt Iveson is Professor of Urban Geography at the University of Sydney. Across a range of books and articles, he has explored the politics of public spaces, the role of planning in addressing urban injustice, and the strategies that urban inhabitants use to build more just cities – from informal neighbourhood interventions to organised social movements. He is also an active unionist (including a stint as President of the University of Sydney Branch of the National Tertiary Education Union), and has participated in Sydney Alliance Research Action Teams on a range of issues including transport, energy and housing justice. Vafa Ghazavi is a political theorist at the University of Sydney and former Australian diplomat. He was the inaugural Executive Director for Research and Policy at the Australian Public Policy Institute and before that taught political philosophy at the University of Oxford. He previously worked in Canberra at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and has been a Visiting Researcher at Google DeepMind and a Carr Center Fellow at Harvard University. He currently serves on the board of the Centre for Relational Care and on the research committee of Amplify. Thu 22 Oct 2026 6:30pm - 7:30pm Free entry Marrickville Library and Pavilion, Patyegarang Place, 313 Marrickville Road Marrickville NSW 2204 Australia