Open City
Open City
Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable.Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world.At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brief – an award-winning review of the big stories in architecture, planning and housing news – hosted by Sahiba Chadha and Fran Williams on a fortnightly basis.Alongside this is Deconstructed – a monthly podcast hosted by Matthew Lloyd Roberts taking apart the architecture of individual buildings and InterCities – a monthly podcast hosted by Owen Hatherley exploring municipal transformation around the world. All three shows profile new, expert and diverse voices from across industry, journalism, academia and beyond. The Open City Podcast is produced by Hunter Charlton and Paige Reynolds. The commissioning editor is Merlin Fulcher. The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture platform and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. The Open City Podcast is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City Friend.Photo credit: Owen Hatherley portrait © Antonio Olmos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 28, 2021 • 41min
Is land to blame for the housing crisis?
Why do we agree to pay extortionate prices for poor quality housing, and will this ever change?In this episode we are joined by Alastair Parvin, founder of Open Systems Lab, to discuss the role land plays in making our urban landscape so political. The latest podcast follows on from our previous episode with Emma Dent Coad, former Labour MP for Kensington, where we discussed housing, the crisis we are in and how competing visions of the city make architecture so political. In this episode we dig deeper into the history of land, it’s increasing value and where this has left us today…We also talk with Anurag Verma, chairman of the community land trust, Russ, in Lewisham who sheds light on how things can be done differently.Listen to Why is Architecture so Political: https://bit.ly/39uXkWl Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 13, 2021 • 26min
The Old Kent Road: Is there room on the gravy train for everyone? 2/2
For this second part of our two-part episode we continue exploring all the amazing work local people are doing to create spaces and opportunities to thrive in the shadow of ambitious regeneration agendas.Part one is available here: https://open-city.org.uk/podcast-episodes/the-city-and-the-sandwich-22mr6-5m78r Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 3, 2020 • 32min
Old Kent Road: Is there room on the gravy train for everyone? 1/2
In this two part episode we will be learning about one of London's most important roads, Old Kent Road, and the work that local people are doing to make sure that the future of the area is one that belongs to them and their communities. Hosts Arman Nouri and Selasi Setufe are joined by Nicholas Okwulu, social entrepreneur, community organiser and founder of Livesey Exchange - a grassroots cultural and educational space and a vital part of the people's plan to make the multi-billion regeneration of Old Kent Road something that works for them. Over two episodes, we will drive rich industrial history of Old Kent Road, tracing its story through the wreckage of WW2 and exploring the amazing work that local people are doing to create spaces and opportunities to thrive in the shadow of ambitious regeneration agendas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 26, 2020 • 32min
Public Transport: What do bus drivers really think of you?
In this episode we will be discussing how our modes of transport have changed - what works, what doesn’t and what is still needed to make our journeys accessible, enjoyable and effective. Hosts Lara Kinneir and Arman Nouri are joined by Joe Kerr, architectural historian and bus driver of the No.19 route that journeys from Finsbury Park to Battersea Bridge and Jon Little, transport engineer behind the Mini Holland project in Walthamstow, East London. Specifically, this episode looks at how London can provide a greater diversity of transport modes for public need, and what the challenges are for those that provide some of these transport offers, and those that negotiate their design and delivery.https://open-city.org.uk/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 12, 2020 • 42min
The Fast Consumer City: can a sandwich really run the city?
How can a cheddar and pickle baguette shape our city? Why does a £3 flat white make a difference to how open a city is? This episode looks at the work and lifestyle habits of the fast consumer city and how our cities start to look and run when they cater to the well heeled urban professional. Hosts Lara Kinneir and Zoe Cave look to the big issues of a global economy on our cities and high streets, alongside the everyday experiences of the humble cafe and its visitors. They are joined by James Meadway, economist and Associate Fellow at the Centre for Economic Justice who discusses how the economy has shaped the city and how we live and consume within it. Alongside this, a visit to the 120 year old E’PElliccis cafe in East London gives an insight into how independent offers in the city survive and strive to serve the communities they are in despite the turbulence of economic social change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 3, 2020 • 49min
Would young people design a better London for us all?
"In this Open House special episode we will be talking about how young people are currently shut out of the conversation about planning and regeneration and how they could help design the happy, healthy, sustainable London we all want. Specifically we will be discussing a new Youth Engagement Toolkit which has been developed by Grosvenor Britain & Ireland with ZCD Architects, Sport England and the TCPA as part of a drive to transform our approach to city making.In this episode we are joined by Matt Bell, Director of Corporate Affairs for Grosvenor, Dinah Bornat, Director at ZCD Architects, Hamza Taouzzale, Labour Councillor for Queens Park Ward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 28, 2020 • 40min
Lighting up London's bridges
Hosts Merlin Fulcher and Lara Kinneir will be talking about the architecture of London’s bridges. Specifically this episode will be focussing on Illuminated River, an ongoing £20 million project to create a slowly colour-changing lighting scheme synchronised across all 15 of central London’s crossings. It’s designed by US artist Leo Villareal with London architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and you can see the first phase in place on London Bridge, Canon Street Railway Bridge, Southwark Bridge and Millenium Bridge any evening. With the second phase stretching up to Lambeth Bridge now under way for a spring 2021 completion, it’s an ideal moment to reflect on the bridges themselves and the role light can play in enhancing our experience of their extraordinary architecture.We are joined by Sarah Gaventa, director of Illuminated River Foundation and Benedict O’Looney, director, Benedict O’Looney architects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 15, 2020 • 48min
Why is Architecture so Political?
In this episode Merlin Fulcher and Arman Nouri are joined by Emma Dent Coad, former Labour MP for Kensington to discuss why architecture and housing is so political. Dent Coad -- who remains a councillor at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea -- will discuss how the stories of the Trellick and Grenfell towers reflect the failure of politics to safeguard the notion of public housing as a public good.The debate will cover topical issues stemming from the present housing crisis such as micro-apartments, help to buy and estate regeneration while also revealing the limited lived experiences of MPs who seek to address our present challenges. It will ask whether a new generation of visionaries could be the solution, and how the story of Barcelona shows one way forward... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 28, 2020 • 40min
Unleashing Londoners' imagination
In this Open House special episode we will be talking about how imagination -- such as myths which celebrate our real or fictional past -- can transform how we see the city around us, and in turn create better places for everyone. Specifically we will be focussing on Seething Wells in Surbiton, a large former waterworks which played a pioneering role in the delivery of clean drinking water to central London, and was a focus of Jon Snow’s groundbreaking cholera study which created modern epidemiology.https://open-city.org.uk/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 24, 2020 • 43min
Rethinking London's Green Spaces
In this Open House special episode hosts Merlin Fulcher and Zoe Cave are joined by Ed Green from Grosvenor and Catherine Greig of make:good to discuss green spaces and their future during a time of climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically this episode will be focussing on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair which is poised to undergo an ambitious renewal to unlock its full potential as an urban oasis meeting the needs and expectations of our twenty-first century capital. Could the new Grosvenor Square and the deep ongoing discussions around its transformation offer a new template for other public spaces in these challenging times?To learn more about Grosvenor Square click here: https://www.grosvenorsquare.org/To find out more about The Open City Podcast: https://open-city.org.uk/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
