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From the poetics of the built environment to the future of the high street and the quiet art of a good welcome, Monocle's Quality of Life Conference 2026 gathers a cerebral cast of thinkers, makers and quiet revolutionaries. Here are just a few of the voices taking the stage in Lisbon this September.
Mayor of Lisbon
How do you keep a beloved city liveable while the whole world wants a piece of it? An engineer by training with a career that ran through Goldman Sachs and construction before politics, Moedas served as Portugal's secretary of state to the prime minister and then as European commissioner for research, science and innovation. Mayor of Lisbon since 2021, he opens the day with a lesson in leadership from the host city itself.
Artist, designer and founder, Studio Astolfi
Lisbon-born to a Brazilian architect father and a Portuguese artist mother, Astolfi founded her multidisciplinary studio in 2007 and has since brought colour and playfulness to everything from Hermès windows to José Avillez's restaurants and a nine-suite guesthouse in the Alentejo. She sets the tone with Portugal's shop window to the world: ten lessons the country can offer, staged as only she would stage them.
Architect and founder, Aires Mateus
One of Portugal's most quietly influential architects, Aires Mateus builds from the relationship between the physical and the cultural, with work rooted in memory and knowledge and shown at the Venice and Seoul biennales. He joins the stage to argue that architecture can heal us, and that beauty, form and function are not luxuries but essentials.
CEO and founder, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio
From Mexico City, Bilbao practises architecture as a form of care, weaving research, community-led strategy and responsible construction into everything from social housing to cultural landmarks. A teacher at Yale, her human-centric, socially engaged approach has made her one of the most compelling voices in global design. Expect a case for buildings that put people first.
Co-founders, Amble
Three very different careers, one improbably charming electric buggy. Uva is the entrepreneur behind São Lourenço do Barrocal; Roose co-founded the design-led e-bike brand Cowboy; Hönig led design at Audi before serving as a lead designer on the Apple Watch, Vision Pro and the Apple Car programme. Together they built the Amble One, a sub-450kg, cork-wheeled four-seater that reinvents the resort cart and, they hope, the way we move around cities. Their credo: your second car shouldn't be a second car.
Founder and CEO, Stride
From Japan, Fukuchi built Stride in 2016 on a deceptively simple idea: that proper movement is the key to quality of life. He brings together shoes, nutrition, space and coaching into a single philosophy of walking well. Movement matters, and he's here to explain exactly why.
Founder, Gait Happens, and author of 'Walk'
With more than 25 years in clinical practice, Conley is a leading authority on foot health and movement education, and the author of the bestselling 'Walk', which traces the profound connection between how our feet function and how our whole bodies feel. A masterclass in the most underrated form of wellness there is: putting one foot in front of the other.
Captain, TAP Air Portugal
A former search-and-rescue pilot turned commercial captain, Nunes has spent a career reading weather, geography and geopolitics from 40,000 feet. Ask the captain, and he'll share what the view from up there teaches about the world down here.
Founder, Husbands
Paris's tailor-philosopher, Gabard founded Husbands to prove that sharp, cinematic tailoring never really goes out of style. Equal parts cutter and cultural commentator, he's on hand to help you fix your look, one well-considered lapel at a time.
Founder, Pulso Hotel
With a background spanning filmmaking and finance, Suriani runs São Paulo's Estancorpgroup and created Pulso Hotel, an art-filled, architecturally bold ode to the city where culture, design and place converge. His lesson in hospitality comes with a caveat close to Monocle's heart: technology isn't always the answer.
Director, senior client advisor and global auctioneer, Christie's
A specialist in Asian art and a reader of where the luxury market is heading, Wang takes the rostrum for Hammer Time, a live auction with gavel and good cause in equal measure, raising funds for Reporters Without Borders.
CEO, Cloud 11
Sirisant makes the case that physical shops, big and small, remain essential to the life of a neighbourhood. As the future of the high street is written off yet again, he explains why bricks, mortar and a good shopfront still shape how we live.
Editorial director, Monocle
The man who built Wallpaper*, Monocle and Winkreative returns to his conference with Things We Like, a characteristically opinionated tour through the retail, hospitality, media, branding and design that have caught his eye across a year of travel, and a life spent noticing.
Monocle's Quality of Life Conference returns to Lisbon this September, three days of ideas, design and city living at the Gulbenkian. Here's who and what to expect.
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A think tank for the bold, the curious, the creators of tomorrow. Where minds collide, conversations spark, and urban life gets redefined. If you shape the future, you belong here.
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Porto for culture seekers - we explore the Serralves Foundation comprising of a dusty pink 1930-40s’s Art Deco villa designed by Porto architect José Marques da Silva, a landscape-specific contemporary museum designed by Álvaro Siza.
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Josef Frank’s Villa Beer reopens in Vienna in 2026 following a careful restoration, offering rare access to one of his most important architectural works and a deeper understanding of the ideas that later shaped his celebrated interiors and textiles for Svenskt Tenn.
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Lisbon, Portugal's legendary capital simply bursts with heritage, azulejo tiles, Pastéis de Nata & art - this is a design guide you can shop, see & drink.
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The Pavilion Le Corbusier, located in Zurich, pays homage to an architect who was the forerunner of urban design, a pioneer of sustainability, and a leader of modernism.
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With an extraordinarily creative mind, Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846 – 1923), was known for taking his own approach which can be seen in this revealing museum which showcases his graphic arts, caricatures, ceramics, object design and decoration.
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Travel to Portugal's fairytale den of Sintra, just outside Lisbon, for a world full of rolling hills and castles, once referred to by Byron as "glorious Eden".
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A Lisbon shopping guide for those under-the-radar gems spanning fashion, antique tiles, vintage furniture, design den interiors & all things children's gifts.
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Gorgeously flamboyant, Casa Vicens is a riot of colour and fantastical architectural detailing - bearing the hallmarks of Barcelona hero, Antoni Gaudi.
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From ancient embroidery stitches to reclaimed wood and endangered wool, LDW - Lisbon Design Week 2026 makes the case for craft as a living discipline. Here is why this is the edition to catch.
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Lisbon's sleek MAAT is the city's latest cultural hub, where the worlds of architecture, art and tech collide - a museum of force in glazed ceramic form.
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Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.