National Urban Design Conference
Birmingham Millennium Point, Birmingham
This year the National Urban Design Group‘s annual conference has the theme of “Making-People Friendly Places”.
‘The need to care about the urban environment has never been greater’ was the opening sentence of Francis Tibbalds’ seminal work ‘Making People Friendly Towns’ written over quarter of a century ago. Try as people have since then, with many reports and publications covering the full range of subjects from environmental pollution, guidance on streets, density, transport and the built environment, through to social inclusion and human rights, it has clearly not been enough. Places are still not people friendly. The Planet is not people friendly.
We have a climate change emergency, grave concern over collapsing ecosystems and security of food supplies to support the rapidly increasing urban population, and worries over human health ranging from anxiety and depression through to obesity, diabetes, and faltering increases in life expectancy. We are seeing changes to the urban economy, with high streets locked in a downward spiral in the face of competition from low-tax gig-economy internet retail, and robotization progressively eliminating jobs. As the Baby Boom generation enters old-age and care, generation X, Y, and Z face an uncertain future.
CLES CEO Neil McInroy will be a speaker at the event.
Find out more and book tickets here
