Cities and buildings

Public lecture of the Shaping cities series hosted by LSE Cities

Through his 40-year experience of architectural and urban design practice, Richard Rogers has campaigned for social and environmental responsibility in architecture. His commitment to creating socially equitable buildings and urban environments has not only shaped buildings and projects across the world – including the canonical Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff – but also influenced the thinking of city leaders in London, Barcelona, Paris, Sydney and New York. His illustrated lecture will review recent projects by his practice and argue that governments should invest more heavily in quality of design in order to improve the quality of life of urban citizens.

 

Profiles

    Richard Rogers

    Richard Rogers, founder of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, is a pre-eminent architect of his generation, whose approach to buildings is infused with his enthusiasm for modernism, love of life and strong sense of social justice. Richard and his partners, including Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, have been responsible for some of the most radical designs of the 20th Century, from the Pompidou Centre in Paris, to the Millennium Dome and the Lloyds Building in the City of London, to 3 World Trade Center, as well as airports, cancer care centres and low-cost homes.

    Ricky Burdett

    Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age project. He is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and was chief advisor on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and architectural advisor to the Mayor of London from 2001 to 2006. He was director of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2006. With Deyan Sudjic he is co-editor of The Endless City (2007) and Living in the Endless City (2011) and, with Philipp Rode Shaping Cities in an Urban Age (2018).

    Tony Travers

    Tony Travers is Director of the IPA and also of LSE London.  He is a professor in the Department of Government. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform. He has been an advisor to the Communities & Local Government Select Committee and also to other Parliamentary committees. He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government, The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis); Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills); The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City and, most recently, London’s Boroughs at 50. He has chaired a number of official commissions, including the Independent Commission on Local Government Finance in Wales and the London Finance Commission.