Cities and Citizenship: Surviving the 21st Century at the RSA

[photo credit: kla4067 flickr]

Having attended the ‘Cities and citizenship’ at the RSA I have since been meaning to record my reflections on the rewarding debate that was hosted.

Subtitled as ‘surviving the 21st’ century’ the diverse panel discussed the challenges posed to urban planners, and policy makers in designing public space and in attempting to cultivate and serve urban communities. Part of what made for such an exciting discussion was panels breath of perspectives on many different aspects of urbanism. As a general overview here is a brief introduction to the speakers and the most interesting insights they brought to the debate.

Andrew Mawson
First up Lord Andrew Mawson - social entrepreneur and founder of the Bromley by Bow Centre in East London. Mawson spoke about the challenges of translating government policy into local education and healthcare services that really fit their communities. The approach he advocated was one of engagement, bringing planners, social workers and Mp’s together to the street themselves to engage with communities first hand, in his words:

“Designing cities isn’t about top down or bottom up, it’s about inside out… Streets need a story and a vision so communities can connect with them.”

Wolf Prix
Influential German architect who is also visiting professor at the Architectural Association in London and at Harvard University. The key questions Prix asked were – “How could future urban planning strategies be more agile and flexible?” And – “Now that the funding for civic and public space projects no longer comes from the church or nobles, how can companies be enlisted to help realise the democratic potential of public space?”

Anna Minton
Anna Minton is a writer and journalist. Author of ‘Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the 21st Century City.’ Anna spoke about how developments such as the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford city create urban environments which are more fearful and less democratic, but also how private sector developments don’t have to conform to this model. I just started reading Ground control so I look forward to gaining a more detailed insight into her work

Matthew Taylor
Chief Executive of the RSA since 2006 asked

"How do we reconnect individuals with the social fabric of their cities?" and "How can our architecture make meaning, tell us who we are supposed to be and unlock our capacity for altruism?"

Andrew Mawsons reflections on building the Bromely by Bow centre were especially rewarding. For me he managed to highlighted the common practices and principles that exist across service design, commercial co-creation initiatives and Mawson's own focus of community service entreprenuership. Governments and corporations end up dislocated from their end audiences/beneficiaries in similar ways. The notion of building meaning and narrative around streets is something I found particularly compelling.