Talking Place

What does a city really gain when it invests in culture and why it can’t simply import the success of a global art fair?  Patrick Foret, Founder of Urban X Culture and former Director of Art Basel & Art Basel Cities, has spent years building connections between the art world, private partners and cities. From helping launch Art Basel in Hong Kong to developing Art Basel Cities, his work has ex...

What if we've been designing cities all wrong?  In Episode 37 of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin sits down with Rasmus Astrup , Design Principal and Senior Partner at SLA, one of the world's leading nature-based design practices, to explore how nature-based design can reshape the way we think about cities.  Rasmus argues that nature isn't a decorative layer we add at the end...

Can a place brand do more than give a place a new identity?  In Episode 36 of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin sits down with Councillor Tom Bruce , Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Hounslow, and Peter O’Brien , Executive Director of Placemaking and Growth, to explore how Hounslow is using place branding as part of a bigger story about regeneration, investment, partnership and civic pr...

What does people-first development actually look like?   Hanna Afolabi MRICS, Managing Director & Founder of Mood and Space and CEO & Founder of Black Women in Real Estate, joins host Tanisha Raffiuddin on Talking Place to explore what it means to make development work for the people who use and live in the places being created.  The conversation moves from Hanna's route into developm...

What can a city learn about resilience when people are forced to redesign how they live?  Mikael Colville-Andersen , urban designer, filmmaker and host of the TV Show 'The Life-Sized City', joins host Tanisha Raffiuddin on Talking Place to explore the tactical urbanism projects he delivered in Ukraine during the full-scale war. From coordinating thousands of donated bicycles as humanitar...

What happens when a 2,000-year-old city tries to build itself around artificial intelligence without losing the essence that makes it special?   Theo Blackwell MBE , London's first Chief Digital Officer, has spent the past nine years tackling exactly that challenge for the Mayor of London.  Recorded live at SXSW London , Theo joins host Tanisha Raffiuddin on Talking Place from the London 2050...

What does it feel like to move through a city without fear? To just... switch off? For Melissa Bruntlett, author, mobility advocate, and co-author of the new book Women Changing Cities , that feeling isn't a luxury. It's a design choice. Far too few cities are making it. In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin is joined by Melissa Bruntlett, mobility advocate and co-aut...

What happens to a city that treats culture as an afterthought?  Founder of MTArt Agency , Marine Tanguy explains why culture is not a luxury but essential urban infrastructure - and why investing in art and artists is one of the smartest decisions cities can make.  Marine Tanguy has spent her career demonstrating that public art creates measurable economic, social, and mental health benefits.  In...

What does it mean for a city to be genuinely co-authored by the people who live in it?  In Episode 30 of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin speaks with one of the most consequential figures in the global conversation about digital democracy: Audrey Tang , Taiwan's Cyber Ambassador-at-Large and the world's first openly non-binary cabinet minister. Audrey didn't enter government b...

Can regeneration strengthen a community rather than replace it? Chrisp Street Market has been part of East London's story for generations. Chrisp Street in E14 is five minutes from Canary Wharf, named on the DLR, and about to turn 75. Built as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951 - one of the UK's first purpose-built mixed-use developments - it's a place with homes, a market, a l...

Host Tanisha Raffiuddin visits Cody Dock in East London and speaks with Simon Myers and Bella Quirin from Cody Dock about what belonging looks like when it is built on collective ownership. This episode is part of the Know Your Neighbourhood series, produced in partnership with the London Festival of Architecture 2026. The theme is Belonging.  Cody Dock sits on the River Lee in East London - on th...

In this episode of Know Your Neighbourhood - produced in partnership with the London Festival of Architecture 2026 - host Tanisha Raffiuddin travels to the City of London , the Square Mile, to meet Eliza Grosvenor of NLA  at The London Centre. Together they explore this year's LFA2026 theme of Belonging through one of London's most contradictory neighbourhoods: a place with 2,000 years o...

Bradford was UK’s City of Culture in 2025. The events happened, the crowds came, the spotlight found a city that had been waiting a long time to show the world what it was made of. The real question begins: what did it actually leave behind?  In this final episode of our Bradford miniseries, recorded live at the Bradford Showcase at UKREiiF 2026, Tanisha Raffiuddin sits down with Zulfikar Karim, w...

What makes a neighbourhood feel like home? In this episode of Talking Place's Know Your Neighbourhood series, host Tanisha Raffiuddin visits Fitzrovia with Marcos Gold, Director of Policy and Place at The Fitzrovia Partnership. Recorded as part of the London Festival of Architecture's 2026 theme of Belonging, this conversation explores how one of central London's most dynamic neighb...

85% of our health is determined by non-clinical factors. So why does the built environment remain an afterthought in most public health conversations?  In this episode of Talking Place, recorded live at the Bradford Showcase at UKREiiF 2026, Tanisha sits down with three people who are making the evidence-based case for healthier cities - and delivering it. Professor Rosie McEachan (Director, Born...

What makes people feel they belong somewhere? In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin visits Alexandra Palace and Wood Green as part of London Festival of Architecture's Know Your Neighbourhood series exploring the theme of belonging. Joined by Louise Johnson from the Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust, the conversation explores why ‘Ally Pally’ continues to hold suc...

Bradford is one of the UK's most talked-about regeneration stories and for good reason. With a demographic dividend, a stunning heritage canvas, and one of the boldest city centre transformation programmes in the country underway, Bradford is doing something different.  In this episode, recorded live at the Bradford Showcase at UKREiiF 2026 in Leeds, I sat down with three people right at the...

What does it mean to design a city that's truly just? And can we actually design out danger? In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin sits down with Deborah Saunt, founding director of award-winning London practice DSDHA, for a wide-ranging conversation on spatial justice, community-led design, the safety of women and girls in urban space, and what it means to build cities th...

Patrick Schumacher, Principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, joins Talking Place for a conversation that challenges some of the most settled assumptions in contemporary placemaking and urban design. From the claim that inclusiveness undermines rather than strengthens place identity, to the argument that London should house 30 million people and that the UK planning system is structurally incapable of d...

Season 3 Trailer — Talking Place The conversations cities need. The ones the industry keeps avoiding. Season 3 of Talking Place is coming — and it's the most urgent series yet. From the economics of viability to the politics of inclusion. From women changing cities under threat to tactical urbanism in a war zone, with air raid sirens in the background. If you believe cities should be safer, s...

Retrofit is often framed as a technical challenge — but what if it’s actually about people, pride and place? In this episode, Anna Moore, founder of Domna, joins Talking Place to unpack why upgrading the homes we already live in is essential for tackling fuel poverty, improving health, and creating stronger communities. From the realities of funding and policy to the role of AI and community engag...

What role does culture play in shaping our cities, and how can collaboration across borders help places thrive? In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin talks place with Gregorio Scarpella, Director of the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN), a worldwide network connecting cultural districts at the intersection of culture and urbanism. Drawing on his international journey and...

How do homes shape our health, happiness, and sense of belonging, and what does it take to design places where everyone can truly thrive? In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin talks place with Ruth Skidmore, Social Impact Lead at Meeting Place, whose journey from architecture into social impact has shaped a people first approach to planning, development, and placemaking. Togeth...

How do we fix a broken real estate system built on short-term returns? In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin ‘talks place’ with Ben Cross, Founder of MORE, a purpose-led real estate and development company rethinking how we value, retrofit, and regenerate buildings. Together, they explore why the current real estate model is “broken,” how ethics and care must be central to deci...

How can Local Authorities create places people truly belong to, and what does public placeshaping look like in action? In this episode of Talking Place, host Tanisha Raffiuddin ‘talks place’ with John Stiles, Placemaking Manager at Brent Council, recorded live at the Brent Civic Centre in the heart of Wembley Park. An architect and town planner, John shares his journey from private practice to pub...