"The city" is a highly topical theme at the moment, with conversations centered around the reinvention of the city as such. Looking at ways to make the urban environment more sustainable and more engaging, improving social mobility and social amenities are often considerations in such conversations.

The City, more specifically, "Visions of the Future City – the Anti City", is the theme of the Festarch festival currently taking place in the medieval cities Perugia and Assisi in Italy. Nelly Ben Hayoun will be blogging for Design Indaba about the event, which runs until 5 June 2011.

Now in its third edition, Festarch brings together leading architects, designers, urban planners, writers, artists, anthropologists and politicians to explore the making of cities in an age of urban dissipation. A general proliferation of individualism and waste is undermining the foundations of urban centres, resulting in the need to find ways of opposing these trends. Creating cities in the age of the "antii-city" requires strategies for the reconstitution of civil architecture, to create an open society that prioritises shared spaces.

A range of lectures, debates and meetings will consider issues at the intersection of politics and architecture. More than that, Festarch will also present a mix of fine Italian food, music and meeting in an inspired space of cultural significance.