Open 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,...

"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...

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 an...

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...

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 cent...

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 ur...

For this episode of the Open City podcast, we speak to the guest-editor of the book, critic and author, Owen Hatherley, who talks about why this guide and its focus on the extraordinariness of the more ordinary parts of London, is a rare find when talking about the capital’s architecture. We discuss pertinent topics such as London before, during and after lockdown; the disparity between how London...

We know active travel is good for health and limiting infection, improves air quality and the quality of our public spaces -- yet even now some of London’s busiest streets remain choked with traffic and are often perilous. So what is holding us back? In this Open House special episode we will be talking to Bruce McVean, Clarisse Tavin, and Laurie Miller-Zutshi from the City of London Corporation w...

No industry contributes more to global warming than construction. To fight climate change we must radically reform how our cities are designed. In this episode of the Open City podcast, we dive into the cutting edge of ecological architecture with Maria Smith and Clara Bagenal George. To find out more: https://bit.ly/3myifMx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

London's historic monuments and statues are in the spotlight following the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. As we re-interpret Britain's imperial and slave trading past, big questions are being asked about the creation, maintenance, removal and renewal of public artworks. In this episode of the Open City Podcast we talk to Paul Butler, one of the artists behi...

The new Open City Podcast will be hosted by a roster of rising stars in architectural criticism, planning and public engagement, and will feature interviews and discussions with leading experts from across architecture and design, as well as artists, academics, economists, policy makers and citizens. This introductory episode features each host reflecting on their work and ambitions for discussion...