27/05/2026
DESIGN: Creative direction is no longer just about how things look, it’s about how everything connects.
In an interview with adobo Magazine, Ayala Land, Inc. Creative Director Paloma Zobel de Ayala reflects on Milan Design Week 2026 and how cities today operate as living systems where architecture, culture, commerce, and movement continuously overlap to shape more immersive ways of experiencing the place.
From “productive friction” to permeable cities, she unpacks why the future of placemaking lies in openness, interaction, and environments designed to evolve with the people who move through them.
“I think cities function successfully as creative systems when there’s permeability between disciplines, institutions, and communities. When movement, curiosity, and encounter are designed into the urban experience rather than controlled out of it,” she said.
Paloma Zobel de Ayala argues that the future of placemaking lies in building interconnected environments that allow coherence across touchpoints.