The Venice Architecture Biennale opened to the public last 10 May 2025. This year’s event is dedicated to the theme “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective” and is curated by Carlo Ratti. Since its first edition in 1980, the Venice Biennale has been quietly moving from focusing on design and architecture to addressing urban innovation and how cities are part of the solution to global sustainability.
For those who have never visited, the Biennale is organized around three main sections: 1. The Arsenale, which is curated under each year’s thematic focus; 2. The National Pavilions that are organized by the respective Ministries of participating countries; and 3. A series of Collateral Events organized around Venice from May to November 2025 by partner institutions.
Powerful urban solutions
The Awards for the 2025 edition of the Biennale were announced on 10 May 2025 as the exhibition opened to the public. You can know more about the winners selected by the Jury here.
UNDP SDG Local Action had the opportunity to visit the Biennale. Although it is very difficult to see all the 300 featured works in the official section, and the many more around the city of Venice, we wanted to offer here a selection of the pieces that inspired us the most.
Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power Since 1500
Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler
https://calculatingempires.net
A great example of using data for storytelling and graphically showing the main human inventions (for the good and for the bad) over the past five centuries. From the printing press to quantum computers.
Resourceful Intelligence
Park Associati
https://parkassociati.com/en/projects/resourceful-intelligence
The construction industry is the world’s largest consumer of materials. In response, Park Associati explores two architectural projects in Milan, Italy, showing a digital map to reveal the spatial distribution of reusable materials across the city. This mapping reinforces the idea of the city as a material reservoir and invites new ways of sourcing materials for future regeneration projects.
Water Filled Glass
https://www.waterfilledglass.com
WFG improves thermal comfort (more daylight and view due to reduced need for shading) and reduces energy consumption. It works as a solar water heater: it captures heat that can be used elsewhere in the house (e.g. for heating or hot water), and it helps retain heat inside the rooms in the winter. It can be retrofitted in existing windows.
Mycoblocks
Anomalia
https://anomalia.in/journal/la-biennale-di-venezia
This project shows sustainable building blocks made from mushroom mycelium and transformed into building elements by local communities in India.
Popular Transport
MIT School of Architecture
https://atlasofpopulartransport.mit.edu
In many cities in the Global South, residents rely on popular transport such as minibuses, tuk-tuks, shared vans, or repurposed school buses to move within their city. Yet, in most of these places, no official data on these transportation modes exists – not even a map. The Atlas of Popular Transport tells the story of sixteen cities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America where students, civic hackers, artists, union leaders, and riders used GPS and smartphones to map these widely used but poorly documented systems. These stories demonstrate how making systems visible, including on platforms like Google Maps, can inspire changes in urban planning, health policy, and mobility.
