John O’Callaghan

Director, JOC Consulting

Sydney

John is the Director of JOC Consulting, a creative urban planning practice that specialises in community, place and technology. He is also the Chair of Brand X, a not for profit arts organisation based in Sydney and Founder of Idea Bombing [City], a creative meetup focused on highlighting and supporting the cultural life of our cities.

John is inspired by best practice and global trends, including those not directly connected to the built environment. He is the Editor of Trending City, a collaborative blogging platform capturing great ideas from across the globe and a regular contributor to the Planning Institute of Australia’s New Planner magazine with a column focusing on technology, new media and urban planning. He has co-designed a course and lectures at the University of New South Wales teaching contemporary issues in urbanism. John uses his social media following (of more than 14,000 people across twitter, instagram and facebook) to advocate for a more creative and liveable city.

In 2014, John was awarded the Urban Provocateur 2014 award by DARCH (the NSW Emerging Architects and Graduates Network) and recognised as an AMP Tomorrow Maker by the AMP Tomorrow Fund. In 2015, he joined Claire McCaughan and Lucy Humphrey as co-directors of the Sydney Architecture Festival 2015. In the same year, John was also a Finalist in the NSW Creative Talent Awards and named 1 of 10 instagrammers to follow in Sydney by TimeOut.