Open City

In this special bumper 100th episode, Merlin Fulcher takes the guest-pundit hot seat, to answer questions on the housing, cost of living, and climate crises. Guiding him through these meaty topics is new host Sahiba Chadha -- architect and Accelerate tutor. Click  here  to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City. The Londown...

Click  here  to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City. This week Merlin speaks to Lachlan Anderson-Frank. Lachlan trained as an architect and is a town planner working at the London Borough of Enfield. A new budget amid a wave of public sector strike disruptions | Three London buildings among the UK’ s most at risk of...

Following on from Merlin's interview with Angus Lockyer on the Londown this week, here is the second leg of the Leisured City guided walk -- part of Angus' new podcast series historicity . This episode,we see how some parts of the West End (like Soho) came down in the world, while others (like St James’s) stayed up. More about the series: Most existing tours either explore particular themes i...

Click  here  to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City. This week Merlin speaks to the historian, and writer and presenter of the audio walking tours series - historicity - Angus Lockyer. Lambeth pulls the plug on controversial estate demolitions | London’s David Chipperfield wins the Pritzker Prize - architecture’s most cov...

Click  here  to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City. This week Merlin Speaks to the broadcaster and and host of the brand new podcast series Crash Course, Michael Walker.   The Londown is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approa...

In this episode we are zooming in on the importance of materials, as we design our way through the climate emergency. Joining Paul are Vanessa Norwood and Duncan Paybody. Duncan is Director of Landscape at Studio Egret West, which has just delivered a new six-acre park in the heart of Manchester. Vanessa is a curator and consultant who was Creative Director of the Building Centre from 2018-22, and...

Click  here  to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City. This week Phin speaks to Denean Rowe, project manager at the Town and Country Planning Association. Visionary plans to deliver 1.2 million homes within walking distance of rural train stations | Britain’s addiction to the wrecking ball costing us 55,000 buildings a...

Click here to get early, ad-free access to the Londown, and support accessible independent journalism from Open City. This week Merlin speaks to Charles Begley, Chief Executive of the London Property Alliance. Supreme Court grants luxury homeowners victory over Tate Modern viewing platform | Housing in every London borough declared unaffordable for local average earners | First time rough sle...

This week Merlin speaks to the architect and Director of Citizens Design Bureau, Katy Marks. Huge doubts over carbon credits, a key pillar of Net Zero construction | Pop-up urinal death prompts debate over London’s vanishing public toilets | Michael Gove pledges to scrap ‘feudal’ leaseholder system | And fears Stratford’s LED-clad sphere could shine as bright as the ‘sun’ The Londown is recor...

This week Merlin speaks to the architect, director of Frame Projects and chair of Open City; Deborah Denner. A linear park for Camden on the route of a disused railway wins approval | New research reveals the shocking health inequalities seen with rising house prices | Last year’s huge police raid on Hackney’s Antepavilion ruled unlawful | And could Architects be replaced by machines? We...

Historicity is a brilliant new series of audio walking tours which explore how cities got to be the way they are - starting with London. This episode - Leisured City - covers the transformation of the West End, as wealth is invested, hierarchy reproduced, and luxury consumed, in its streets and square… More about the series: Most existing tours either explore particular themes in a city’...

This week Merlin speaks to the architecture critic and Chief Executive of Open City, Phineas Harper. Could increasing congestion on London’s roads be the real cure to all transport woes? | Shock as Grenfell firefighters diagnosed with incurable cancers six years on | Right to camp wild under the stars formally outlawed across England and Wales | And the new legislation mandating verdant urban...

This week Rachel speaks to the architect and co-author of the new book 'Meanwhile City', Petra Marko. Census map blows the lid on London's housing and transport inequalities | Michael Gove vows to revive traditional architecture with a new ‘school of place’ | The true scale of social housing demolitions in the capital revealed | And an enormous new public space opens in what was once a major...

In this episode we are looking at how public space has been designed by and for men, and how this can have potentially deadly consequences for women. Joining Paul are Eleanor Trenfield, Jade Goto and Sophie Thompson. Eleanor and Jade are from EDLA landscape architects, and Sophie leads public realm at LDA Design, and has been involved in the design and delivery of liveable streets, squares, and gr...

Open City presents Episode One, Season Two of Words on Wood , a podcast series created by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) in conjunction with Disegno journal, that delves deep into the big questions surrounding forests, the timber industry, and the use of wood as a design material. With architecture under more pressure than ever to improve the sustainability of buil...

Join Phin Harper, Peter Arkley Bloxham, Sonny Malhotra, Cath Slessor and Ruth Lang for a epic end of year quiz where we look at some of the biggest, boldest, and down-right strangest stories we've covered on the Londown in 2022... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Merlin speaks to the journalist and the former director of inclusion at the RIBA -- Marsha Ramroop. Leading London architects called out over Qatar world cup | China’s new embassy next to Tower Hill denied planning permission | Conservationists rage over green light for National Gallery overhaul | And Open City names its new chair and board...  The Londown is recorded and produced at th...

In this second episode of Talking Landscape - a monthly series produced by the Landscape Institute and Open City - host Paul Lincoln speaks to two contributors to the autumn edition of the Landscape journal which celebrates 100 years of women in landscape architecture. They are Jane Findlay, and Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr. Jane is the Immediate Past President of the Landscape Institute, and guest edito...

A walking tour of the extraordinary architecture around London Bridge, Southwark and the Square Mile created for Shangri-La The Shard, led by architect Charles Holland. You can find details about the route on Open City's website The production of this tour and audio guide was sponsored by Shangri-La The Shard Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our host Rachel speaks to the urban designer, and co-director of ZCD Architects, Dinah Bornat. Toddler killed by mould a defining wake-up call for the housing sector | New Voter ID rules freezing young people out of civic life | ‘Who remembers proper binmen?’ - the nostalgia meme rejecting modern progress | And Wandworth council reclaims the streets… from e-bikes  The Londown i...

This week Merlin speaks to award winning architectural journalist, and author of 'Monumental Lies: Culture Wars and the Truth about the Past', Robert Bevan. The Grenfell inquiry concludes and the long road to memorialising 72 deaths begins | London mayor holds emergency summit as more than a third of renters face defaulting | Working class people earning thousands less than middle class peers...

This week Merlin speaks to Alpa Depani, an architect and head of strategic planning and design the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Austerity restarts with £50 million pounds of cuts to London culture | World leaders talk climate change while sustainable rail transport falters at home | Essex’s newest new town shows one way to meet London’s housing need | And is built environment heritage becomin...

This week Merlin speaks to Russell Curtis, founder of RCKa Architects A global house price slump is coming – but what does it mean for London and those most in housing need | Mega housing association criticised for evicting tenants over safety concerns in new block | South London council hires one of London's trendiest rising star architects for a new wave of social housing | And Michael Gove prom...

This week Phin speaks to Aydin Dikerdem. Aydin is a Councillor for Shaftesbury & Queenstown in Wandsworth and Cabinet Member for Housing. Rishi Sunak – the wealthiest MP in history – becomes the new Prime Minister | Campaign group, Just Stop Oil under threat from new bill targeting peaceful protests | Battersea Power Station finally opens, with flats on sale for £7 million despite 11,000 perso...

In this first episode of Talking Landscape – a monthly series produced by the Landscape Institute and Open City – host Paul Lincoln discusses beauty in the planning system and beyond with two contributors to the summer edition of the Landscape Journal; Julie Waldron and Ruth Lin Wong Holmes. Julie – who is Senior Landscape and Water Planning Officer at Edinburgh City Council – embarked o...