Ground Control. Photo: John DaviesBritish cities have never been so cool: buzzing with cultural centres, farmers’ markets and late-night venues. Regeneration and loft-living have transformed seedy neighbourhoods into desirable urban villages. And yet media reports of stabbings and MPs needing personal security have fuelled our anxiety about crime. The recent property boom forced prices beyond the reach of first-time buyers – a situation the current credit crunch has done little to assuage. Property developers and private interests are expanding their territories, with corporate plazas replacing public spaces. If we are to live in cities in the 21st century, what can be done to improve our relationships with them?
Speakers: Anna Minton, author of Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-first-century City; Saskia Sassen, Robert S Lynd professor of sociology, department of sociology and Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University; Nigel Coates, professor of architecture at the Royal College of Art; councillor Daniel Moylan, deputy leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council and deputy chair of Transport for London.
Chair: Tristram Hunt, author of Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City and lecturer in urban history at Queen Mary, University of London. www.ica.org.uk
Nash Room: £10/£9 concs/£8 members
