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Sarah Chaplin the fate of our placesDavid Rudlin urbanism in a recession

Jon Rowland addressing suburbiaChris Balch Lisbon’s winning formula

Mary Kerrigan the resilient city

The Olympics | Chelmsford | Glasgow | The Urbanism Awards

AoU Journal #1 Spring 2012

Where next for urbanism?

Here & Now

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The Academy of Urbanism70 Cowcross Street

LondonEC�M 6EJ

info@academyofurbanism.org.ukT: +44 (0)20 725� 8777

Our new publication, The AoU Journal, provides a vehicle for Academicians to discuss current issues in urbanism, share insights, challenge assumptions and stimulate debate. Each of the topics in this publication will continue to be explored online through our LinkedIn.com group

contents A collaborative enterprise

The simple answer is that we do not advocate any singular form or size of urbanism, partly because it is the wrong question. The Academy was founded on the principle of distilling the lessons from great places at different scales. What we have learned from studying nearly �00 locations is that good urbanism is culturally and climatically specific. Yes, key spatial ideas can be exported, from Derry to North America or Holland to Gothenburg. But whether they take root depends on people and institutions, and practical utility over time.

The question belies a predilection towards urban form, usually by spatial designers with a leaning towards environmental determinism. There is no doubt that a legacy of good urban components, whether from the Romans, Georgians or Victorians, can provide characterful ingredients of value.

Some of the deeper lessons of good urbanism come not from overt form however, but from subtler layers of complexity and contradiction; and a fundamental adaptability that nurtures changing ventures, accommodates diversity and even contrasting opposites. (We have come across the re-use of industrial Lacemarket buildings as a university in Nottingham, temporary ‘pop-up’ evening uses in historic Budapest, and places transformed into people hubs by creative transport projects in Brighton and Bordeaux.)

It is the ability to be crucible for a variety of economic and social enterprise that seems to distinguish really successful places. Robert Davis, the founder developer of Seaside in Florida, told me recently that the ability to nurture new enterprises, and to enhance the range of retail and market ventures, was a key ingredient of a town’s vitality. That is not to say form is superficial or irrelevant, just that it is not the whole story. Better places tend to be more tolerant of a diversity of people and backgrounds, making people feel comfortable and providing them with positive stimuli for creativity and collaboration. Creative collaboration is essential to the art of shaping and managing the city.

So the goal of good urbanism may be less about seeking some idealised form, and more one of finding ways to realise these diverse wants and needs. Great places that endure, do so because they enable people to live connected, fulfilling lives alongside each other. Good urbanists are therefore charged with liberating the paths to this aspiration, and the Academy will be debating and updating this mission over the coming months.

I hope to see you at the Congress in Derry – in the meantime please join our debates online.

I am sometimes asked what kind of urbanism the Academy advocates.

Are we modernist, post-modernist, enlightenment rationalist, baroque or even medieval organic in our leanings? Are we top-down corporatists or bottom-up localists? What is our view on James Craig and Haussman, Corband Jane Jacobs, the New Urbanists and the Prince? And do we support Richard Rogers’ recent reassertion of the compact city model?

Prof Kevin Murray AoUDirector, Kevin Murray AssociatesChairman, The Academy of Urbanism

Kevin Murray

Sarah Chaplin

David Rudlin

Prof Chris Balch

Mary Kerrigan

Prof David Porter

Prof Brian Evans

Jon Rowlands

Stephanie Mills

Dr Richard Simmons

Chairman A collaborative enterprise

AoU Soundings Where now for urbanism?

Taking stock Four recessions & a pottery

AoU European City Lisbon: The winning formula

Congress 20�2 The Resilient City

Insight The Rewards of the Awards

Backstory Glasgow - all signed up?

Viewpoint The Academy of Suburbanism?

Project focus Changing Chelmsford

Viewpoint Spirit in Motion

Academy Programmes

Board & Academicians

Getting Involved

Events Calendar

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Where now for urbanism?

Exmouth MarketThe Great Street of the Year 2011Installation: Non-stop Forest© Suzi Winstanley

AOU SOUNDINGS

Everyone is saying it’s going to be a long time before we see any significant new investment in our towns and cities, but we’ve been all too aware of how much urban regeneration there is still left to do since the economy came crashing down. With a Government committed to cuts and austerity measures to try and get us back on track, and inevitably huge caution amongst the UK’s main developers and housebuilders, where does this leave us?

Is there anything that we as urbanists in our different capacities could be doing to help move things along? How do we read the warning signs, and what are our predictions for the future of place?

I put this to six Academicians, who encompassed a range of professional spheres, to see what new light they had to shed on our current predicament and our future prospects. I asked them what they saw as the major stumbling block right now to any sort of urban regeneration project happening. I was interested to know what if anything we could be doing right now as professionals to help stimulate or foster activity more proactively. I also wanted to see what they all thought our relationship to place would be like in say ten years’ time. Lastly, I asked them what new practices or measures they thought needed to be implemented right now in order to make a difference, however small.

Their responses, gathered together overleaf, reveal a telling story. Whilst we have a diverse membership, and these six individuals’ roles and expertise reflect this, their interpretations of what’s happening were remarkably consistent and at the same time specific to their unique relationships to urbanism. It’s left me thinking that while each of us is seeking to influence the future of placemaking in positive ways, it’s going to take our combined efforts to ensure that urban regeneration is not a stalled project.

Sarah Chaplin AoUHead of ResearchJTP Cities

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The primary one without a doubt is funding, but we’re also facing a serious lack of innovation, from the top down - currently there is a vacuous policy platform combined with poor leadership.

It has a lot to do with land assembly problems - this holds up a good many projects, coupled with the dire lack of finance, and I have to say it is not helped by the baffling complexity of the planning process.

Given the dearth of compelling new ideas out there, to get things going we perhaps need to think in terms of giving something away for free, instead of waiting to be commissioned by clients.

One place to start would be to simplify the urban regeneration tools at our disposal, with a view to making all our masterplans, design codes, and the whole planning process much more streamlined and straightforward.

The plus side might be we see more local independent actions, making places seem more distinctive. On the downside this effect will be extremely uneven across the country - places that fare best being in the already wealthy pockets.

As macro economics and global, even national politics feel increasingly more remote, this will have the effect of making home and our local neighbourhoods more and more important - people will learn to value and love what’s on their doorstep much more.

To start with, the policy process is flawed - it’s just not up to dealing with the spikier world we live in now - there’s no real effort going into rebalancing the economy and everything is too piecemeal.

We should all do our level best to encourage consistent investment over a long time frame, promoting more discussion around the spatial economy, and housebuilders to develop not hoard land.

The thing we’ll notice most in ten years time will be the worrying disparities in terms of rich and poor places - the long-term effects of this recession will be divisive, and only bottom up organic change will produce any respite.

This has got to be aimed at facilitating genuine devolution of decision-making to the local level, and cultivating a mindset towards patient long term returns on investing in placemaking.

The watchword here has to be integration: there needs to be more effort put into achieving effective joined-up goals and into approaching projects with a true spirit of multidisciplinarity.

While we have time to take stock, we should commit more time to understanding the nature of place - cultural as well as physical - which requires better links between our disciplines.

Q1what is

the major stumbing

block?

Q2 what can we as urbanists

do?

Q3 what will our

relationship to place be in 10 years

time?

Q4 what new measures should be

implemented now to

get things moving?

Paul HildrethVisiting Policy Fellow Salford University

Robert AdamPrincipalRobert Adam Architects

Jim ColemanHead of Economics, Happold Consulting Ltd

AOU SOUNDINGS

The real underlying issue is that there is no emphasis on promoting and prioritising jobs for the 18-24 cohort, ensuring ongoing deep and persistent poverty, plus our ageing society needs a new approach.

I see the main problem as a lack of urgency for local projects now - only the big interenational projects are getting funded, and this is an issue of short-sighted short-termism when what we need is long term investment.

The support for change has gone, and the shift away from targets makes everything more tentative, plus there are conflicts between national and local spheres of action. There’s still shock in the system.

We need to align our thinking much more towards poverty alleviation rather than making pretty places for our clients. And we should be exploring ways of making dementia-friendly cities.

We need to maintain the campaign for quality, work hard to change people’s aspirations, shift the focus to more cheap refurb and renew projects and quick wins, and train the next generation to box clever.

We could do a lot more if we focused on reusing the places that are still alive and kicking, enabling ownership to be real, and on the ground initiatives to find their feet more easily - like Group 91 did in Dublin.

Ten years down the line we will have an even more ageing society - meaning we will be using space in different ways. We will also think about places differently - because social networks will have transformed our relationship to place.

Places will experience fewer visitors as we travel less in our leisure time, and the attention will no longer be on what’s luxury, but on what’s necessary. No high quality new places will have been built, making those that are very valuable commodities.

Given an emergent culture of frugality, in ten years’ time people will have a much more realistic sense of what land is worth, and an improved sense of stewardship - looking after their places better and reporting on them in new ways or media.

Any new measures that are geared towards acknowledging and acting in the light of social media networking, so that what we get is social placemaking not just social capital.

Under a regime of cutbacks and hardship, any measures that allow us to be more creative with funding and fundraising, and achieve small temporary transformations has to be a bonus.

We need to introduce some simple stimuli - such as the removal of business rates inside city centres, allowing alternative uses for derelict sites, or starting a regeneration academy, like the one in Bradford.

Julia UnwinChief Executive Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Lora Nicolaouformer Director of Urban Strategies at DEGW

Barra Mac RuairiStrategic Director for Regeneration, Bradford City Counciil

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It is not easy working as an urbanist in a time of recession. In the late ���0s and early 2000s there were plenty of people who wanted to build things, land values were positive and change seemed possible even in the most deprived neighbourhoods. The job of the urban designer was to mould and shape this development pressure into successful urban areas. It was therefore quite a shock in the autumn of 2008 to see this development pressure evaporate seemingly overnight. Suddenly no one wanted to build anything, and the notion of masterplanning seemed slightly absurd. The question became not how can we shape development, but how can we make something (anything!) happen? In the parts of the country with the strongest economies, the downturn might have felt like a temporary, and not entirely unwelcome, respite from the relentless pressure of development, an opportunity perhaps to take stock and plan. However many of the weaker urban economies had seen development take place only at the high watermark of the boom. They faced the prospect that it would take years to return, if indeed it ever did.

It has been a long time since we had such a property slump and to many of the young planners, architects and urban designers we work with it is a novel situation.

It reminds me however of the dark days of ��7� when I moved to Manchester to study planning and again of ���0 when I started working for URBED. Indeed the type of work that many urbanists have found themselves doing in the years since the Lehman collapse reminds me of the early part of my career. Rather that the grand masterplans and iconic architecture of the 00s the current environment is all about working incrementally, stimulating activity, bring buildings back into use bit by bit, promoting meanwhile uses, working with artists and independent businesses and using festivals and events to generate interest.

This is difficult and messy work and much harder to do in today’s risk-averse, health and safety world than it was in the early ���0s. However it goes back to the roots of why I got involved in urbanism: it is all about generating diversity rather than stifling it, which, in hindsight, was the result of many a commercial masterplan.

So in October 20�0 when I was asked to present a paper to a conference in Bradford being organised by Beam on the theme of Creativity & Regeneration in the New Economy, it seemed a good opportunity to explore the link between recessions, urbanism and diversity. What I realised was that many of the urban places that we consider success stories were born in times of recession. Covent Garden grew out of the three-day week of the ��7�/4 recession when London’s economy had slumped. Yet when the market

Four recessions & a pottery

TAKING STOCK

moved out of Covent Garden the area filled with small creative businesses on short-term leases and a campaign was successfully waged against the GLC’s redevelopment plans for the area. Something similar was happening in Camden Lock and North Laine in Brighton where, creative uses colonised areas blighted by road schemes.

A few short years later came the Winter of Discontent in ��7� that heralded the recession of the early 80s and its Monetarist ‘cure’ of the Thatcher government that so harmed the industrial north. These were the dark days in which the seeds of Manchester’s recovery germinated with the birth of Factory Records and developers like Urban Splash. Then in the early ���0s came another recession which saw the emergence of Glasgow as European Capital of Culture and a remarkable if unfortunately short-lived renaissance in Bradford.

Received wisdom suggests that these three recessions ripped the heart out of our towns and cities, as whole industries went to the wall, leading to mass unemployment and urban depopulation. Without wishing to belittle the pain of these recessions, it was also the case that this decline created space for new ideas to emerge, for diversity to flourish and for values other that the maximisation of profit to take root. Were it not for these recessions we wouldn’t have the cities that we have today.

Recessions hold within them the seeds of recovery. What would you do if you were made redundant next week? In the last few years it is something that most of us have had to think about and many have experienced. People react to redundancy in very different ways. To some it is a blow to their self-esteem and financial stability that they never really recover from. To others it is an opportunity to do something different, to start a business, to take a lease on a vacant building and let it to people selling alternative clothing (which is how Urban Splash started).

This is the stuff that urban economies are made of. If you look back to the beginnings of many of today’s successful small and medium sized companies, I suspect you may find a disconsolate person clutching a redundancy cheque. If not this then you might find a graduate unable to get into their chosen profession and dabbling with computers or indulging their passion for music or graphics. My son is currently working �2 hours days for no pay on an independent feature film with a crew of 40 people all in the same position. This is not something that would be happening if they had all been sitting comfortably on the first rung of the career ladder. Recessions therefore create not the just vacant space to be filled, but people with time on their hands and energy to channel to fill this space. Recessions are incubators of new ideas and business.

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These urban pioneers help bring the area back to life but tend to end up being squeezed out by the upsurge in values that they create. The process documented in ��62 by Jacobs, has recently been updated by Sharon Zukin in her book Naked city: the death and life of authentic urban places. In this she plots the decline, creative colonisation and subsequent gentrification of six New York neighbourhoods and laments their loss of urban authenticity as affluent incomers displace the very independent local businesses and ‘funky restaurants’ that attracted them in the first place.

However unlike Zukin, Jacob saw this as a healthy urban process. It is always sad to see a lively creative quarter such as Covent Garden become gentrified, but provided that there are other parts of the city that can be colonised by young creatives the process will roll on regenerating the city as it goes.

Recessions, it seems, perform a similar function over time. They create the conditions in which new activity can take root and new ideas and business can be tried out. Just as cities are regenerated by the activity that comes out of their run-down neighbourhoods, so urban renaissance grows from activity that starts in times of recession. This is what should be guiding our work at the present time, not through grand masterplans that will never be realised, but through grass roots urbanism and ‘grow-your-own regeneration’. It is the areas that get this right during the current recession that will prosper when the market recovers.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that while the total number of businesses registered for VAT and PAYE fell by 2.4% between 2009 and 2010 in England and Wales, the number of new business registrations per month rose from �2,4�2 in March 200� to 40,748 in March 20�0 year, an increase of more than 25%. You would think that the best time to develop a new business would be in a time of economic prosperity. It is true there are advantages in buoyant economies; expanding markets, customers with disposable income and available credit. However the entry costs for new business in boom times can be very high. Premises and employees are expensive, and the competition is well-established and difficult to dislodge. What’s more, people in well-paid stable employment need a lot of balls to give it all up and strike out on their own. By contrast, someone with a redundancy cheque, time on their hands and few other prospects has little to lose. Gaps are created as established companies contract or fail, and customers shop around for cheaper alternatives to established products and services. Maybe innovation needs the occasional downturn, a bushfire to clear away all the dead wood and allow new shoots to grow.

The link between urban decline and innovation has of course already been made. Jane Jacobs wrote that new economic activity is best created in old buildings. New buildings are too expensive and too regulated in how they can be used, whereas new business needs cheap flexible space. There is also a well-understood cycle in which city quarters that fall into decline attract artists and creative people. David Rudlin AoU

Director, URBED

Four recessions & a pottery continued...

TAKING STOCK

The economic engine behind the regeneration and expansion of so many towns and cities has slowed to a purr or conked out completely – particularly in Ireland. With the pennies in our collective purses in very short supply how do we cut our cloth to suit? As the physical and social severance wrought by traffic engineering theories devised to cater for increasing car ownership is laid bare – literally – by decreasing traffic volumes resulting from fuel poverty there is a pressing need to redress the balance.

This Congress – convened in the first UK City of Culture 20�� – challenges us to adapt our cultural mindsets to meet our global and local challenges positively and creatively. It challenges us to keep the baby in the bath water and to distill essential lessons left by our ancestral place makers so we are better equipped to make and re-make places that are truly resilient, fantastic experiences for us all as human beings.

Reputed for its warmth and wit, Derry welcomes international delegates and speakers interested in engaging in its live resilience issues though interactive, purposeful inquiry to share learning and leave a lasting legacy. Dubbed the Hallowe’en capital of Ireland, this place loves a party so with lots of joyous celebration thrown in this promises to be the most distinctive and memorable Congress ever.

With established economic, political, and social certainties disappearing like ‘snow off a ditch’ the challenges facing our towns and cities have never been greater. Natural disasters, global terrorism, rising unemployment, fuel and food poverty – and the risk of these – are forcing a response that will redefine our ways of life, our society, its culture and the expression of that in our physical environment.

The seventh Academy Congress, �-�� May 20�2, explores the robustness and flexibility of our historic urban settlements for developing greater resilience to cope with and adapt to these challenges; and the potential for high levels of social capital to drive and achieve socially and economically sustainable regeneration.

Jewel in the crown of the Ulster Plantation settlements, and the first example of true urban planning in Ireland, Derry~Londonderry is no stranger to economic recession. Though geographically peripheral it has been central to some of Northern Ireland and Ireland’s most turbulent and progressive historic events. Derry’s is an inspiring story of ground up social and physical transformation in the most testing circumstances – an ideal prism through which to explore issues of resilience – often flip sides of the one coin.

Built heritage is crucial to the character and distinctiveness of our different places and frequently sustains the most diverse and interconnected community life. Despite contributing significantly to economic regeneration through tourism heritage is often seen as a liability rather than an asset – its repair an obstacle to progress and in conflict with the climate change agenda of reducing carbon footprints. How do we resolve these apparent dichotomies?

Mary Kerrigan AoUEducation Officer, Walled City PartnershipDerry~Londonderry

9-11 May2012

Peace Bridge, Derry~Londonderry

Congress VII: The Resilient City

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Each year, the Academy goes in search of a suitable recipient for its by-now prestigious European City of the Year Award, seeking out places that are really leading the way, dreaming up and implementing inspiring and effective strategies, visions and policies that in turn generate greater wellbeing and prosperity for their inhabitant and visitors.

A team of Assessors makes a comprehensive three-day visit, meeting with leaders, locals and politicians, and tries to make sense of what they learn in their assessment reports. Our new Journal provides an ideal opportunity for me to share with other Academicians the tremendously insightful experience of being an Assessor to Lisbon, and to set down some of what I learned in the process.

On culture and sense of place...Lisbon provides a unique setting for the expression of Portuguese culture. This comprises many influences, reflecting the city’s ability to draw on Atlantic and Mediterranean traditions as well as its links to Brazil and Africa. The quality of the built environment that ranges from national monuments to areas dominated by flyposting and graffiti speaks of a vibrant and living urban culture. This is reflected in the living folk tradition of ‘fado’, street art and events. Lisbon is a city for living in and enjoying. This extends to the Parque das Nacoes which provides a successful example of a contaminated industrial area transformed through a World Expo to a successful new city district that reflects modern Lisbon. The expression of local culture may be seen in the public realm through the squares which are paved with the unique ‘calacada Portuguesa’ – the limestone mosaic pavements, the historic (and modern) trams, and the tree lined walkways along the main boulevards. As a capital city with a strong Catholic tradition, Lisbon possesses an outstanding range of public buildings, art and historical collections. However it is from ‘fado’, street art and an active programme of events including football (Benfica and Sporting Lisbon), that the city derives much of its character and vibrancy.

Lisbon and its neighbourhoods therefore impart a strong sense of place and while the visitor is struck by the profusion of bill posters and graffiti on many surfaces, the main public spaces and buildings are evidently a source of pride and respect. This is not an antiseptic place – but a living and breathing organism of a city.

On quality of life...Lisbon has a reputation as an open and welcoming city to immigrants, students, tourists and businesses. While there has been significant growth of employment on the edge of the city as a result of the accessibility provided by new motorways, Lisbon remains a key employment hub. For example the Parque das Nacaos development has attracted a range of international businesses. The port of Lisbon remains a key component of the

Lisbon: the winning formula

AWARD WINNER FOCUS

city’s economy both in relation to goods and cruise liners. The established neighbourhoods across the city accommodate a broad cross section of ages. Family ties and the support offered by local charities mean that older people remain and are cared for within their communities. The key challenge for young people under current economic circumstances is to find employment locally. It is reported that a great many are having to leave Portugal altogether to develop their careers.Lisbon has been recognised by the UN as the safest capital city in Europe – indeed Portugal was ranked as the ��th safest country in the world (Global Peace Index). While this is in large part due to social stability and prevailing values, the character of the urban environment, which promotes activity well into the evening, encourages civilised and responsible behaviour. This is a city that for the most part feels safe and welcoming.

On the urban economy...The current economic context poses considerable challenges for the city of Lisbon. Portugal has to implement a series of stringent austerity measures as a result of financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU). This has put on hold a number of major projects such as the relocation of the City’s airport. However, Lisbon remains the commercial hub of both the country and the region and therefore has a vital role to play in the economy of one of Western Europe’s less wealthy countries. This situation reflects the country’s relative peripherality and its dependence on relatively low-value economic sectors.

And yet Lisbon is leading the way in economic restructuring. While the port remains an important element in the city’s economy and emphasises Lisbon’s

role as an Atlantic hub, the redevelopment of former port and industrial land is a key component in the transformation of the city. This is reflected in the new business district at the Parque das Nacoes. In the current difficult economic circumstances there is evidence of growing levels of entrepreneurship borne out of necessity as much as choice.

On change management...Lisbon is a city that has endured for more than two millennia. Over time it has faced enormous physical, economic and political challenges: ravaged by an earthquake in the mid �8th Century it rebuilt its heart to created the outstanding Baixa central city district; in the post colonial, post authoritarian era it has evolved into an outward facing cosmopolitan city; heavy industrial blight has been transformed to an attractive destination and vibrant city district through a World Expo; and today, faced by enormous economic challenges, Lisbon is seeking to evolve innovative ways of working with communities across the City.

Under the leadership of its Mayor and Executive Council, Lisbon has undertaken a fundamental review of its future direction and modus operandi. It aims to reinforce its role as capital of Portugal and regional centre based on being a ‘city of neighbourhoods’. This involves administrative reform with the devolution of power to newly strengthened local councils. New ways of working are being developed including participative budgeting. This allows local people to have a much greater involvement in the development and management of the city.

The early results from this process provide a model that could be followed by other European city governments seeking to re-engage with their communities.

Manuel Salgado, Vice Mayor of LisbonThe European City of the Year 2012

Prof Chris Balch AoUProfessor of Planning, Plymouth UniversityDirector, The Academy of Urbanism

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‘When I look at a city I don’t just view it as a ‘cultural tourist’ but try to see how the people who live and work there might view it. It is the social divisions that hold our towns and cities back, so in my view we should be exploring how to bridge the divides.’Dr Nicholas Falk AoU, Assessor

Oslo, Norway Finalist The European City of the Year 2012

INSIGHT

The Urbanism Awards Ceremony is one of the centrepieces of our events calendar at the Academy, and from the outside sometimes it looks as though our glitzy hob-nobbing, chin-wagging, networking event of the year is where the whole focus of our endeavour lies. Nothing could be further from the truth! It’s the rather more protracted and interesting process of nominating, short-listing, engaging, assessing and then disseminating that really drives the Awards process into its 7th year, with �0 Great Places having been shortlisted. It is above all else a vehicle for learning more about place, and provides an innovative structure with which to capture some of the fascinating transformations and transitions which many different European places are going through.

Urbanism is a work in progress, so instead of awarding a prize to a newly completed project, or an innovative urban design practice, the Academy is committed to looking more holistically. Inevitably, therefore, the recipient of the Award is the place itself. Sometimes the politicians and leaders come forward to receive it, sometimes it’s local people who’ve lead the way, sometimes it’s been a distant admirer who’s set the whole thing in motion. This in itself has been as revealing for us as the physical place we find when we visit a place and make the assessment: who comes forward and champions a place, who sees themselves as its stewards, its advocates – it’s not always the obvious candidates.

The other important aspect of the Awards process for me is the way in which it offers an alternative learning platform. Formalised learning, fuelled by books and lessons, is still de rigueur the world over, although with the advent of the internet, iPads and such like even this is changing. But the urban environment offers a unique learning format, one that gathers together all of humanity, all of human frailty, all of our modern issues and challenges, and makes a cheek-by-jowl melting pot of the whole lot.

So it makes sense to study urbanism in situ to try and fathom how policies are actually affecting people’s day to day lives on the street, or how people’s direct action on the streets is informing and changing the way decisions are made by the city leaders. One of the striking things about going on an Assessment Visit is how much the Assessors also learn from each other in the process. Observing how we each think and approach the issues of place from our respective disciplines is utterly fascinating.

The Awards process is a rich and rewarding journey not just through place but also through time: as assessors, we are often shown a tremendously rich back story, complete with before and after pictures. But the real measure of success is whether a place can continue to thrive long after the new paving went down and the most recent lick of paint has started to peel a little. We’re looking at ways therefore to maintain relationships with the places that have had the spotlight thrown on them during our Awards process. We’re now at the point where we’re asking ourselves how do we continue to share in their learning, and at what point do we go back and ask again how things are going? I see the Awards process as just the front-end of an extended exercise in knowledge exchange, a lifelong journey for a place, enabling it to take stock periodically and account for its success in a more public way.

Of course, the cynics might say we will start running out of wonderfully spirited places to bestow our Awards on as the years go by, and particularly now as the austerity measures preclude such vivid transformational agendas where place is concerned. But we are aware of that – how we work with places in future will be based on a growing role for the Academy not simply to recognise and reward success, but actually to foster it. That’s where our other programmes come into play – UniverCities, City X-Rays, and the emergent Place Partnering, the pilots of which are nurturing a productive change.

Reaping the rewards of awards

Prof David Porter AoUFormer Head of School Mackintosh School of Architecture

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Glasgow: we’ve got the vision.......

UNIVERCITIES

Universities have for some time been limbering up to a new kind of research offer that is more pragmatic, purposeful and locally orientated than the classic model. They are starting to think less in terms of what can the Romans do for us, and more along the lines of what can we do for the Romans. The resulting quid pro quo is a subtle and, in the present climate, engaging opportunity to explore long term themes and short term solutions in a wider urban setting.

When the Glasgow Urban Laboratory was approached by Glasgow City Council to help develop its City Vision, I realised it needed an approach that would ensure that both the city and the university really got something out of it, which meant the role of the Lab needed to be that of facilitator rather than that of lead consultant. We found that GCC had the tendency to focus on a vision process rather like a football team’s approach to a major championship – taking it on one match at a time – rather than seeing a bigger arc of thought emerging. It wasn’t until Professor Alan McGregor got involved, a leading labour market economist at the University of Glasgow, that the joined-up-ness really started to happen. He pointed out there were unique possibilities for engendering thought leadership and capacity building that were part and parcel of us all working together.

Having taken the vision process through to the point where the vision document itself is to be published and put out for consultation by the Council, I can now take a step back and start to work with the resultant capacities and insights that have arisen, and can start to make sense of the whole experience and what it has made us aware of.

One thing is for sure, at the very heart of the fifty year vision is a desire to turn it into reality. That might sound obvious, but so many so-called ‘visions’ remain just that – a set of ideas. The fact that this process produced a document that commits to core values in its delivery phase which espouse creativity and enterprise, opportunity and fairness, together with teamwork

and respect, is I like to think a result of how we have worked on it so far. There’s been genuine team effort, tremendous mutual respect for people’s skills and ideas working in different spheres, and a profound overriding belief that only if it’s creative and enterprising will this vision actually see the light of day.

There are many aspect of the City Vision that can be taken forward and drilled into further. It’s important for all those involved to take this valuable learning experience and the many insights it’s precipitated back into our respective organisations and put them to work. This is an important and necessary part of the knowledge exchange that often gets forgotten or passed over, in the rush to get on with other things.

I have come away with the strong sense that there’s no end to what you can achieve if you don’t mind who takes the credit. We have also managed to develop a new identity for the Urban Lab, whereby it’s something of a reference point for the city – and after operating for a good five years now, this is something you can’t just decide to be – you have to earn it.

The reach of our consultation work is also very important – it’s about the language we use to talk about the ideas, and the practical ways in which we try and get things going with real people and real communities. We need to keep asking ourselves, how do we put things into words about cities, so people grasp abstract difficult things?

Because the thing we most need right now is a different kind of sign up – not the kind that’s in it for today and onto the next thing tomorrow, but a truly sustained interest and belief in a place, enough to see it through all the painful changes it might need to undergo.

We really don’t ask people to do this often enough.

.......but are we signed up?

Prof Brian Evans AoUProfessor of Urbanism, Glasgow School of ArtDirector, The Academy of Urbanism

�� | AoU Journal #1 VIEWPOINT

When addressing the quality of life in cities, we need to remember that 86% of households in the UK live in suburban environments (WWF). Yet CABE’s national audit informs us that some 82% of new housing is of poor or average quality. To understand this dysfunctional relationship we need to explore how suburbs are created, nurtured, and packaged, and the gaps between aspiration and the actuality on the ground. We continually come up against barriers to evolving new models of suburban living. This is not just about policies and practice; it is perhaps also because we do not have a value system that reflects what we want from our suburbs.

The patterns for today’s suburbs were set �50 years ago. The current results are often dormitories based on a series of myths and Victorian images, supported by a powerful but unimaginative industry that reflect the contradictions between consumer choice, values, procurement, design and invisible constraints. If we are to rise to the challenges that the government has laid out of providing large amounts of housing quickly in an atmosphere of fevered localism, then we need think again about what we are doing.

A few thoughts

• The key to the continuing sustainability of our cities lies in the suburbs and the quality of life in them.

• Repeated efforts to galvanise public and private sectors to create suburbs of quality remain in doubt.

• Some urbanise the suburban environment. It remains to be seen whether this will be successful or just another developmental imposition / wave that will go the way of previous high density propositions. Lessons from the 1970’s about overcrowding and densification have been forgotten. Whilst Hammarby in Stockholm and / or Vauban in Freiburg can teach us about the benefits

of an integrated approach to suburban housing, we have yet to come to terms with the support mechanisms needed to make such developments successful in the UK. This is the conundrum.

• Whilst the aspirations might be for a 21st Century Garden Suburb, we do not yet seem to have the political, financial or philosophical underpinning to deliver. The wholesale transfer to private investors of much of the Olympic housing is indicative, as is the fact that much of the housing in the country (public or private) is built by 10 companies.

• In our experience it is clear that the ideological battle-ground for the future will be the provision of housing that is sustainable, that meets quality of life criteria, that reflects the hybridity to cope with the uncertainties of the future, that learns from developing economies, and that is prepared for new typologies, forms of tenure, new concepts of development finance. That will enable development that people want now to continue to be valued in 100 years time. Legacy is a tough nut to crack. It will take a generation to establish success. Short term development aims and its long term goals are not yet fully aligned.

Perhaps the AoU could help start a debate on the nature and form of our future suburbs, and the quality of life in them. Perhaps a Suburban Task Force is required to inform Government?

This is not just about policies and practice, or breaking the hold of the volume builder, it is because we do not have a value system that reflects what we want from our suburbs.

The academy of suburbanism?

Jon Rowland AoUDirector JRUD

‘We need to explore how suburbs are created, nurtured, and packaged, and the gaps between aspiration and the actuality on the ground.’

Contribute your thoughts to this article on our LinkedIn group page

2� | AoU Journal #1

2011 was very significant for Chelmsford, which has benefited hugely from the impetus given by the Academy. This relationship has enabled dialogue with practitioners bringing experience, lessons and ideas and new links between Chelmsford interests. We have seen some really interesting projects develop with the encouragement of Changing Chelmsford.

Changing Chelmsford is an experimental programme, a prototype of localism in action. It is a collaborative project between the Royal Society of Arts, the Academy, Chelmsford Borough Council and Essex County Council. It involves a wide range of local people, organisations, and self-organising initiatives as well as local schools, colleges and universities.

Chelmsford has recently become England’s newest city and the aim of our project is to engage diverse sections of Chelmsford’s communities in developing an understanding of its emerging potential within the broader context of Essex and the wider region.

The brief was to develop collaboratively a clearer identity for Chelmsford by building on its strengths and exploring comparator towns and cities to establish the ingredients to enable the town to become a more innovative and successful place.

With the close support of key partners, we put together a series of stimulating events in the Changing Chelmsford ‘festival of ideas’ which have boosted individual projects and opened up leads for the coming months. We envisage a number of people-focussed activities relating to animation of the public realm, meanwhile uses for vacant or underutilised spaces, adaptive reuse of buildings for community use and longer term investment of energy in safeguarding local heritage, strengthening networks, nurturing collective ambitions and strengthening city identity.

Changing Chelmsford is now set up as a Community Interest Company and will continue to work through challenges of accountability, governance, funding and hours-in-the-day. The Chelmsford cabinet councillor Neil Gulliver is actively supporting Young Urban Explorers and media contacts and we hope to build our relationship with borough and county councillors. It’s important that it remains distinct from the councils and with a distinctive offer.

It’s been a fascinating journey so far – understanding the challenges of accountability, governance, funding and time commitments. We aim to build on our relationship with Chelmsford’s wider communities and with borough and county councillors – although it’s important that Changing Chelmsford remains distinct from the councils and maintains its ability to act as a catalyst between the statutory authorities, business, community groups and individual pro-active changemakers.

Changing Chelmsford

Stephanie Mills AoUCoordinator, Changing Chelmsfordchangingchelmsford.wordpress.com

VIEWPOINT

We now have

• Clear policies to guide designers and contractors.• Equalities Impact Assessments applied to every

policy, standard and facility.• People with disabilities, on professional merit, serving

senior delivery team members.• People with disabilities participating in design and

monitoring through access panels and an Equality and Diversity Forum.

• New statutory standards adopted that simply make everywhere easily accessible.

• An ongoing CABE design review role to keep a watching brief on inclusive design.

• Inclusive design principles applied to legacy situation as well as Games-time.

• A view that it’s not just about disability. Faith, gender, age and race should also be considered.

Most of these principles and practices can, and should, be adapted to projects beyond the Olympics. London 2012 solutions shouldn’t cost significantly more than current approaches. More importantly, even where they do, they will produce places and buildings that everyone can use without feeling they are in some way ‘special needs’.

Whatever our current relationship with inclusivity, it’s a right we should all come to expect as we join the ever-increasing ranks of older people with access difficulties. The ODA has shown what professional best practice should look like. CABE is no longer there to advocate it. Design Council + CABE have many calls on their limited resources, so it falls in part to the Academy and other like-minded organisations to play their part in ensuring that the Olympic standard for inclusivity becomes the universal standard.

Inclusivity is an important issue when considering the public realm. Inclusive design removes the barriers that prevent everyone from participating equally, confidently and independently in everyday activities.

Paralympians were understandably disappointed by issues of access and inclusivity at the Athens Games, and it was therefore deemed paramount that the London 20�2 Olympics embodied not only good design, but also set new standards for inclusive design.

CABE’s Inclusive Design Adviser, Anna Hamilos, was seconded to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and helped set it on course to deliver the accessible and inclusive designs promised in London’s Olympic bid.The ODA and LOCOG (The London 20�2 Organising Commitee) rapidly built their own strong (and now award-winning) inclusion teams, set innovative and challenging standards, and ensured that people with disabilities could contribute directly to design.

So what is the lasting legacy of this emphasis on inclusive design? CABE was keen to remain involved, through its London 20�2 Design Review Panel and other means. I believe it is these so-called ‘soft’ aspects of the legacy that will really stand out – revealing our changing priorities towards disability, participation in sport, and economic inclusion.

If we manage to fulful London 20�2’s promise ‘to bring about lasting change to the life experiences of disabled people’, then one of the ODA’s lasting contributions to urbanism will have been improving standards of physical access and ensuring these are adopted by designers everywhere.

So, what’s the policy landscape regarding inclusive design and London 20�2 and what does this mean for the future?

Spirit in motion: London 20�2

Dr Richard Simmons AoUFormer Head of CABE

Contribute your thoughts to this article on our LinkedIn group page

2� | AoU Journal #1

The Academy of Urbanism brings together a group of leaders, thinkers and practitioners involved in the social, cultural, economic, political and physical development of our villages, towns and cities. The Academy was formed to extend urban discourse beyond built environment professionals, and to create an autonomous, politically independent and self-funded learned voice.

We aim to

• Advance the understanding and practice of urbanism through evidence-based inquiry

• Provide an inclusive forum for dialogue across all disciplines

• Fulfill a proactive role in the shaping of our places through sharing knowledge and partnering with communities

• Foster, validate and celebrate excellence in placemaking

The Urbanism AwardsOur primary programme of learning, The Urbanism Awards, seeks to build and promote a body of evidence-based best practice at the level of City, Town, Neighbourhood, Street and Place. Each year, The Awards recognise �5 Great Places that have worked to improve their economic, social and public life over the past two-to-three decades. Academicians are involved in the cycle of shortlisting, assessment visits and voting, all of which culminate in The Awards Ceremony, our highest profile annual event.

City X-RaysThis programme was developed by the Academy to promote a holistic approach to measuring the quality, potential and success of our cities, neighbourhoods and streets. By using a range of tools to analyse our places, from statistical data right through to experiential observation, we can understand what factors underpin them, whether good or bad. The Academy views City X-Rays as the key to giving people, from citizens to practitioners, the power to understand their street or neighbourhood and track change over time.

Place PartneringThis diagnostic service utilises the experience and breadth of the Academy’s membership to help places gain a better understanding of themselves and the elements that help or hinder their success. The Academy achieves this by working with neighbourhoods, city-quarters and towns to identify synergies and conflicts, review local aspirations and suggest direction. For Academicians, it is a rewarding, hands-on experience. For the places themselves, we are providing a broad-expertise to help frame issues and plan for future action in a fresh, independent manner.

UniverCitiesThe role of UniverCities is to encourage the development of strategic partnerships across towns and cities between citizens, civic authorities, private practice and academic institutions. UniverCities promotes the virtues of shared understanding and joint working to achieve more for our towns and cities. This thinking led to the production of a UniverCities starter pack, produced alongside a government-funded pilot programme and aimed at fledgling groups who are keen to set up their own UniverCity. The Academy is already partnered with a number of UniverCities, supported and steered by the involvement of local Academicians.

PublicationsThe Academy produces a number of publications as a result of our programmes of learning. These include; Learning from Place – published with Routledge – which distils lessons and ideas from finalists of The Urbanism Awards; Space Place Life, which each year celebrates our �5 Award Finalists with a poem by Ian McMillan, a sketch by David Harrison and a figureground plan. The Academy also publishes individual documents such as The Freiburg Charter for Sustainable Urbanism, which defines 12 guiding principles from our European City of the Year 2010.

The Urbanism Award Finalists 2012 (left to right) Buy St Edmunds, Accordia (Cambridge), Totnes, Steep Hill

(Lincoln), Lisbon, Cockburn Street (Edinburgh), Old Town / Harbour Arm (Margate), Derry~Londonderry, Byres Road

(Glasgow), Oslo, Gothenburg, Gillett Square (Hackney), Borough / Bankside (London), Victoria Quarter (Leeds),

Queen Square (Bristol)

Academy programmes

25 | AoU Journal #1

Toby Crayden Linda Curr Ned CussenJustine Daly Jane Dann Alex Davey Michael DaviesPhilip Davies Prof Trevor Davies Nick Davis Paul DavisSimon Davis Mark Davy Eric Dawson Neil de PrezSophia de Sousa Ian Deans Guy Denton Hank Dittmar Andrew Dixon Sir Jeremy Dixon Lord John Doune Martin Downie Roger Dowty Paul Drew Peter Drummond Rosamund Dunn Paul Dunne Prof Mark Dyer John Dyke Duncan Ecob Luke Engleback Gavin Erasmus Karen Escott Roger Estop Prof Graeme Evans Roger Evans Nick Ewbank Richard Fagg Dr Nicholas Falk Ross Faragher Kerri Farnsworth Max Farrell Sir Terry Farrell Jacqueline Fearon Ian Fenn Jaimie Ferguson George Ferguson CBE Diana Fitzsimons David Flannery Richard Ford Sue Foster OBE Bernie Foulkes Jane Fowles Simon Foxell Alan Francis Jerome Frost Daisy Froud William Fulford Jeremy Gardiner Carole Garfield Tim Garratt Angus Gavin John Geeson Lia Ghilardi Andy Gibbins Prof Mike Gibson Bruce Gilbreth Ian Gilzean Christopher Glaister Francis Glare Stephen Gleave Keith Gowenlock Charles Graham Gerry Grams Gary Grant Michele Grant Mark Greaves Stephen Greenberg Ali Grehan Simon Guest Richard Guise Patrick GulliverTrutz Haase Tim Hancock Derek Harding Annette Hards Geoff Haslam Philip Hayden Helen Hayes Michael Hayes CBE Nicholas Hayward Peter Heath Prof Michael Hebbert Michael Hegarty David Height Wayne Hemingway Simon Henley James Hennessey David Hennings Mark Hensman Peter Hibbert

Arthur Acheson Robert Adam Marcus Adams Lynda Addison OBE John Adlen Kyle Alexander OBEPeter Alexander-Fitzgerald Sandy Allcock Joanna AllenBen Allgood Nigel Anderson Ian Angus Debbie AplinJudith Armitt George Arvanitis Stephen AshworthPhilip Askew Jasvir Atwal Jeff Austin Janice BalchJonathan Barker Yolande Barnes Alistair Barr Andrew Barton Jemma Basham Irena BaumanTrevor Beattie Ian Beaumont Matthew BedwardSimon Bee Andrew Beharrall John Bell Michael Bennett Neil Bennett Robert Bennett Janet Benton Duncan Berntsen John Best John Betty Richard Bickers Juliet Bidgood David Bishop David FL. Bishop Martin Boddy Henk Bouwman Christopher Boyle Mark Bradbury Guy Briggs Ross Brodie Annabel Brown Jonathan Brown Patricia Brown Mark Burgess Andrew Burns Andrew Burrell Jonathan Burroughs John Bury Malcolm Bushell Peter ButenschønProf Georgia Butina Watson Peter Butler Stephen Byfield Blanche Cameron Fiona Campbell Kelvin Campbell Charles Campion Steve Canadine Tony Carey Emma Cariaga James Carr Sam Cassels Lynne Ceeney Tim Challans Marion Chalmers Joanna Chambers Sarah Chaplin Dominic Edward Chapman Prof James Chapman Peter S Chapman Richard Charge Giles Charlton Alain Chiaradia Prof David Chiddick Nick Childs Tom Clarke Tom Coffey Dr Jim Coleman Robert Coles Garry Colligan Paul Collins Martin Colreavy Max Comfort Peter ConnollyKaren Cooksley Malcolm Cooper Prof Rachel Cooper OBE Matt Corrigan Rob Cowan David Cowans

Academicians 20�2

DIRECTORS

Paul Hildreth Jason Hill Stephen Hill Tom Holbrook Eric Holding Peter Hollis Stephen Howlett Jun Huang David Hughes Jonathan Hughes Michael Hurlow Prof Maxwell Hutchinson John Hyland Delton JacksonPhilip Jackson Sarah Jackson Dr Noël James Dr Ying JinCathy Johnston Chris Jones Gwilym Jones Philip JonesStephen Jordan Dr Kayvan Karimi Andy KarskiDr Harald Kegler John Kelpie Jonathan KendallAngus Kennedy David Kennedy John Kennedy James Kerr Mary Kerrigan Ros Kerslake Janice Kirkpatrick Angela Koch Prof Motoo Kusakabe Chris Lamb Charles Landry Christer Larsson Derek Latham Diarmaid Lawlor Adrian Lee Sir Richard Leese Mick Leggett Alan Leibowitz John Letherland Harry Lewis Michael Lewis Kevin Leyden Chris Littlemore Michael Liverman David Lock Robin Lomas Fred London Tom Lonsdale John Lord Vivien Lovell Mark Lucas David Lumb John Lyall Barra Mac Ruairi Robin Machell Mary MacIntyre Keiji Makino Riccardo Marini Andreas Markides Derek Martin Dr Kat Martindale Andrew Matthews Dr Alice Maynard James McAdam Steve McAdam Richard McCarthy Frank McDonald Prof Michael McGarry Kevin McGeough Aideen McGinley Marie-Thérèse McGivern Nigel McGurk Martin McKay Craig McLarenMary McLaughlin Paul McTernan Ian MellorStephan Miles-Brown Gerry Millar Robert MillarShane Mitchell Kris Mitra Prof Bill MorrisonProf Ruth Morrow Paul Morsley Elizabeth MotleyJohn Muir Ronnie Muir Eugene Mullan John MullinBarry Munday David Murphy Chris MurrayDr Claudia Murray Prof Gordon Murray Hugh MurrayPeter Murray Vivek Nanda Stephen Neal Peter NearsMarko Neskovic Trevor Nicholson Lora NicolaouRoss Nimmo Taryn Nixon John Nordon William Nowlan Calbhac O’Carroll Dr Dellé OdeleyeSimon Ogden Killian O’Higgins Adeola OkeChris Oldershaw Wally Olins CBE Tiago OliveiraBreffne O’Malley John O’Regan Trevor OsbornePaul Ostergaard Chris Pagdin Dr Susan ParhamChris Parkin John Parmiter Prof Richard ParnabyLiz Peace Richard Pearce Adam Peavoy Ross PeedleProf Alan Penn Alison Peters Andrew Petrie Hugh Petter John Phillipps Jon Phipps James Pike Steve Platt Ben Plowden Demetri Porphyrios Dr Sergio Porta David Porter David Powell Robert Powell Sunand Prasad John Prevc Dr Darren Price David Prichard Paul PrichardJohn Pringle Rhona Pringle Douglas Pritchard Stephen Proctor Matt Quayle Shane Quinn Mark Raisbeck Peter Ralph Clive Rand Dr David Randall Mike Rawlinson Tony Reddy Richard Rees Richard Reid Cllr Sian Reid Amanda Reynolds Christopher Rhodes Antony Rifkin Prof Marion Roberts Prof Peter Roberts OBE Dickon Robinson

David Rodgers Bryan Roe Lord Richard Rogers Angela Rolfe Pedro Roos Anna Rose Graham Ross Jon Rowland Sarah Royle-Johnson David Rudlin Robert Rummey Gerard Ryan Dr Andrew Ryder Robert Sakula Rhodri Samuel Clare San Martin Andrew Sanderson Peter Sandover Hilary Satchwell Jamie Saunders Biljana Savic Bridget Sawyers Alberto Scarpa Dominic Scott Toby Shannon Dr Tim Sharpe Cath Shaw Richard Shaw Barry Shaw MBE Keith Shearer Anthony Shoults Ron Sidell Paul Simkins Dr Richard SimmonsProf Alan Simpson Andrew Simpson Anette SimpsonTim Simpson Alan Simson Ann Skippers John SlaterJonathan Smales Malcolm Smith Paul Smith Jim Sneddon Carole Souter CBE Adrian SpawforthJerry Spencer Andy Spracklen Alan StewartAndrew Stokes Alan Stones Rosslyn StuartPeter Studdert Mick Sweeney Nicholas SweetStephen Talboys David Tannahill Ian Tant Deb TateDavid Taylor David J Taylor Ed Taylor Nick TaylorSandy Taylor Alison Tero Chris Thompson Robert Thompson Dale Thomson Lesley ThomsonJohn Thorp Andrew Tindsley Damian TissierCanon Andrea Titterington Ian Tod Peter TooherTricia Topping Robert Townshend Rob TranmerStephen Tucker Neil Tully John Turner Jonathan TurnerChris Twomey Julia Unwin Guilia Vallone Valli van ZijlAtam Verdi Andy von Bradsky Brita von SchoenaichProf Lorna Walker Ian Wall Ann Wallis Russell WallisBrendon Walsh David Walters Dr Gerry WardellPam Warhurst CBE Paul Warner Elanor WarwickDavid Waterhouse Nick Wates Camilla WeenOliver Weindling Dr Michael WellsRosemary Westbrook Allison Westray-ChapmanDuncan Whatmore Craig White Paul WhiteLindsey Whitelaw Peter Williams Patricia WilloughbyMarcus Wilshere James Wilson Chris WinterGodfrey Winterson Saffron Woodcraft Geoff Woodling David Woods Nick WoolleyNick Wright Ian Wroot Tony Wyatt Wei YangBob Young John Zetter

Honorary AcademiciansJan Gehl Prof Wulf Daseking

Honorary TreasurerDavid Miles

Artist in ResidenceDavid Harrison

Poet in ResidenceIan McMillan

*

* at � March 20�2

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27 | AoU Journal #1

Become an AcademicianThe Academy is built on the knowledge, experience and expertise of over 500 Academicians from across the public, private and third sectors. The membership is drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, embracing planning and design, community and cultural development, engineering and property, policy and politics, academia, media and the arts.

Academicians are nominated by their peers and selected on the basis of their contribution to the making and shaping of places through a variety of professional and personal means. Joining the Academy means engaging with a diverse network of individuals who are committed to promoting and sharing the lessons learned from good urbanism.

If you would like to find out more about becoming an Academician, please get in touch with Linda Gledstone, Director of Operations, on +44 (0) 20 725� 8777 or by emailing lg@academyofurbanism.org.uk.

Please also visit academyofurbanism.org.uk for more information.

Academy Team Linda Gledstone (Director of Operations)Stephen Gallagher (Communications Manager) Erica Hartling (Bookkeeper)Felicity Meerloo (Membership Coordinator)

Editorial TeamSarah Chaplin (Editor)Stephen GallagherEric Holding (Editor)Kevin MurrayTim Stonor

Getting involvedSponsorshipThe Academy is able to achieve its goals because of the generosity of our sponsors, all of whom we thank for their support. All are high-profile advocates of good urbanism who we are proud to be associated with.If you or your organisation is interested in supporting one of the Academy’s learning programmes, please get in touch with Linda Gledstone, Director of Operations, on +44 (0) 20 725� 8777 or by emailing lg@academyofurbanism.org.uk

Sponsors*Alan Baxter AssociatesBarton WillmoreCrest NicholsonDepartment of Culture Arts & Leisure Northern IrelandDerry City CouncilDepartment of Environment Northern IrelandGrosvenorIlex URCParabola LandThe Muir GroupSavillsSt George PlcThe Trevor Osborne Property GroupWinckworth Sherwood

Supporters-in-Kind*Architecture + Design ScotlandBDPCharles Russell SolicitorsEcobuildGillespiesJohn Thompson & PartnersKevin Murray AssociatesMiles + Partners ConsultingPLACE Northern IrelandPPS GroupPrentis & Co.Space SyntaxTerry Farrell & PartnersTibbalds Planning & Urban DesignURBED

�8 JulyMid Year Review and ReceptionThe Gallery75 Cowcross Street, London4.00 - 8.00pm

July - SeptemberAssessment VisitsThe Urbanism AwardsGreat Britain, Ireland & Europe

SeptemberLearning from LisbonStudy Visit and CharretteLisbon, Portugal

8 NovemberLearning from EuropeInternational SeminarLondon6.�0 - �.00pm

� NovemberThe Urbanism Awards CeremonyThe Grand Connaught RoomsLondon�2.00 - 4.00pm

�2 DecemberEnd of Year Review and ReceptionThe Gallery75 Cowcross Street, London4.00 - 8.00pm

Please visit academyofurbanism.org.uk to check our latest events

2� MarchCreating CommunitiesThe Olympic Legacy Study Tour and SeminarThe View, East London2.00 - 6.00pm

22 MarchThe Academy at EcobuildTowns in Transition SeminarExCel Centre, London�2.�0 - �4.00pm

28 MarchThe Urbanism Awards Shortlisting EventGrosvenor, London2.�0 - 5.�0pm

28 MarchThe Academy Spring Reception and DebatePlacemaking: NPPF - Friend or Foe?Grosvenor, London6.�0 - �.00pm

� - �� MayAcademy Congress VIIThe Resilient CityDerry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland

�0 MayThe Congress DinnerDerry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Calendar 20�2

* at � January 20�2

The Academy of Urbanism70 Cowcross StreetLondon EC�M 6EJUnited Kingdom

For more information please contact

Linda GledstoneDirector of Operations+44 (0) 20 725� 8777lg@academyofurbanism.org.uk

Visit us onlineacademyofurbanism.org.uk

Follow us on Twitter@TheAoU

Join our LinkedIn, Facebook & Flickr group pages by searchingThe Academy of Urbanism

Images and image editing contributed by

PLACE NI, Paul Brocklehurst, Sarah Chaplin, Stephen Gallagher, Michael Hannam, Tom Heaney (nwpresspics)Sarah Jackson, Niall McInerney, Willie Miller, Kevin Murray, John Thompson, Dale Thomson, Suzi Winstanley

Front and back coverLisbonThe European City of the Year 2011