Urban Living at the Battle of Ideas
As part of this year's Battle of Ideas festivalat the Barbican (20/21 October 2012), there will beaseries of debates on 'URBAN LIVING'
Across the course of Sunday 21 October,the URBAN LIVING strand willincorporate six interrelated discussions which explore issues ranging from the battle over urban lifestyles and social inequalities through to the merits of preservation and how to tackle housing undersupply. We'll also examine themes such as retromaniaand crowd behaviour. The six debates are:
·URBAN HUBRIS AND THE GREAT INEQUALITY DEBATE
·FROM THE COLOSSEUM TO WEMBLEY: CROWD WATCHING THROUGH THE AGES
·PRESERVATION OR MODERNISATION?
The following sessions will be of particular interest to urban designers in London:
Is London just too big for its boots or is it good for us all to have a city with such global reach as our capital? Should we build it higher? Extend it to the green belt? Preserve it the way it is? Lighten the burden of planning regulation? Let developers have their way?
Urban hubris and the great inequality debate 10:30am
Londons Shard, the tallest building in the European Union, has been condemned by some critics as embodying the obscene wealth of the City of London across the Thames. Should the City be dethroned in favour of more even development of our urban areas, or is it the guarantor of development in the regions?
To build or not to build? 3:15pm
From Boris Island to the Dale Farm gypsies, no project seems too big or small to fall foul of the UKs notoriously stringent planning laws. What are the smart ways to deliver good urban development? Is the solution better top-down planning, more bottom-up planning, or something else?
Preservation or modernisation? 5:00pm
Traditionally, the preservation of buildings reflected a judgement that they were of architectural, historic or cultural value. In recent years, however, many European cities have been celebrating urban memory as an end in itself. Why has urban memory become such a big deal, and who should decide what is worth keeping?
Speakers include:
Daniel Moylan, Kelvin Campbell, Christine Murray, Jeremy Musson, Anna Minton, Mick Owens, Tim Edensor, Sunder Katwala, Alexandra Heminsley, John Drury, Sarah E James, Paul Miner, Alastair Donald and many more
FULL DETAILS http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2012/strand/6745
To book a ticket, please see the following link: http://bit.ly/NnkSua
