Monthly Archives: December 2012

VIDEO: What does the Electric City mean to you?

17 December 2012

You can now watch a summary video of the Urban Age Electric City Conference, featuring contributions from Bruce Katz, Nicky Gavron, Erik Spiekerman and more over on the Urban Age YouTube channel.

During last week’s conference we also interviewed some of the delegates and speakers about the concept of electric cities, and what the priorities of urbanists should be in the modern era. To watch these interviews, together with the introductory film written and narrated by Deyan Sudjic, and some highlights of the conference, visit our YouTube playlist.

We will add videos of the conference presentations to our YouTube channel as soon as they are available.

The Electric City in the press

14 December 2012

The Electric City conference has been reported on in a range of blogs and media.

The LSE newspaper, the Beaver, has a write up here, picking out Anthony Giddens’ prediction of a future dominated by energy politics as a particular highlight, while Deyan Sudjic in the Independent reflects on the “Tech City” announcement David Cameron made at the conference in the light of Oscar Niemeyer’s death.

Elsewhere, there is a comprehensive write-up by Rick Rubens on the Dead Parrot blog, Oliver Wainwright in the Guardian critiques Tech City here, the Suddeutsche Zeitung’s write up can be read here (in German), urbanist and artist Stanza features a write up on his blog, and architect and urban planner Tim Stonor of Space Syntax and the Academy of Urbanism has posted his own reflections on his blog.

You can browse the full selection of press clippings here.

Theatrum Mundi at Venice Finissage and on Monocle

Theatrum Mundi/Global Street returned to Venice on 24 November 2012 for David Chipperfield’s Finnisage, where in collaboration with weareherevenice, the project coordinated a 3-hour morning session with global and local mini-lectures on the project. Speakers included Adam Kaasa, Liza Fior, Michelle Provoost, and Mireille Roddier from U Michigan, and were followed by an hour long set of three focus group discussions with 20 people in each from Venice.

Details of the event are available at the Theatrum Mundi website. You can also view a selection of clips from the Biennale over on YouTube.

Adam Kaasa of Theatrum Mundi was also interviewed for Monocle 24, for the radio programme “The Urbanist”. You can listen here, from the 30 minute mark.

 

Suzi Hall keynote lecture at York University

13 December 2012

LSE Cities’ Research Fellow Suzi Hall gave a keynote lecture on 13 December on “Street Commons: Crisis and Cohesion post 2008” at the Post Crash City Conference at the Centre for Urban Research, University of York.

The lecture explored how “community” is a transformative rather than simply a cohesive project.

For more details on the conference, click here.

Reactions to Oscar Niemeyer’s death, father of Brasília

12 December 2012

Oscar Niemeyer the Brazilian architect who died last week at age 104, will be best remembered for Brasília, the city he helped design in the late 1950s. His modernist architecture made Brazil’s federal capital a Unesco World Heritage site in 1987. But does it work as a city? Read reactions on BBC by Lord Foster, Lucy Jordan and Professor Ricky Burdett, Deyan Sudjic’s reflections for The Independent and Edward Glaeser’s take in the FT (requires log-in).

David Cameron and Boris Johnson launch Silicon Roundabout initiative at Urban Age Conference

6 December 2012

On 6 December, at the Urban Age Electric City conference, David Cameron and Boris Johnson launched their plans to transform London’s Old Street roundabout – also known as Silicon Roundabout – with the introduction of “the largest civic space in Europe – a place for start-up companies and the local community to come together and become the next generation of entrepreneurs”.

The £50m investment will create a destination to support start ups, provide classrooms to train entrepreneurs, help young people get the skills they need, and provide a focal point for Tech City.

For more information, visit the Number 10 website.