Urbanism for everyone [?]

Julian Dobson, director, Urban Pollinators

BEYOND PLACE BRANDINGWHO IS URBAN DESIGN FOR?

‘THE SOUL OF THE CITY - THE STRENGTH WHICH MAKES IT BREATHE, EXIST AND PROGRESS - RESIDES IN EACH ONE OF ITS CITIZENS’Jaime Lerner, mayor of Curitiba

‘THE REASON I’VE GOT A VISION IS THAT I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE... IF YOU VISITED THE TOWN CENTRE TODAY YOU’D COME AWAY THINKING IT WAS AWFUL’Council leader, north Kent

‘WITHOUT A VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH’But without the people, what value is the vision?

PLACES OF DISCOVERY AND OPPORTUNITYFROM THE ELDERS AT THE CITY GATE TO URBAN EXPLORERS

‘TOWN CENTRES THAT ARE FIT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY NEED TO BE MULTIFUNCTIONAL SOCIAL CENTRES, NOT SIMPLY COMPETITORS FOR STRETCHED CONSUMERS’The 21st Century Agora: a new and better vision for town centres

HOW CAN WE BECOME FLANEURS IN OUR OWN TOWNS?‘The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his incognito’Charles Baudelaire

PLACEMAKING AND EVERYDAY LIFETHE VALUE OF THE UNFINISHED

‘EVERYDAY LIFE INVENTS ITSELF IN COUNTLESS WAYS BY POACHING ON THE PROPERTY OF OTHERS’Michel de Certeau,The Practice of Everyday Life

‘BEHIND EVERY PROJECT, REINVENTING, RECYCLING, REUSING AND RE-IMAGINING OUR TOWNS ARE POP-UP PEOPLE’Dan Thompson, Pop-Up People

BUILDING UP BY LETTING GOHOW MUCH CONTROL ARE WE WILLING TO LOSE?

‘I HAVE SEEN THE POWER OF SMALL ACTIONS AND IT IS AWESOME’Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible Todmorden

CAN WE TURN TOWN CENTRE MANAGERS INTO TOWN CENTRE ANIMATORS?‘Once we invest in and create social capital in the heart of our communities, the economic capital will follow’Mary Portas

‘It is through the performance of creative acts, in art, in thought, in personal relationships, that the city can be identified as something more than a purely functional organisation of factories and warehouses, barracks, courts, prisons and control centres.’

Lewis Mumford, The City in History

*endnote: if you think this isn’t about hard economics, remember the first law of the market: the customer is always right.

thank youmore from me...

www.urbanpollinators.co.ukmy blog: Living with RatsTwitter: @juliandobson