Urban Design Room

In this episode Lucy chats to Stephen Hill, the former chair of the UK Cohousing Network, about - yes, you guessed it - cohousing. Why is cohousing great? Why is it so hard to do? What has a global pandemic taught us about how we live in communities?

John, Lucy, and Danny discuss the impact of the Covid 19 crisis on cities and urban design. Emergency street closures, impacts on community, and living in a regeneration area during a global pandemic are discussed.

On this final episode of the series, Danny, Lucy, and John try to channel the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast and bring three hot topics from the year to discuss: disappearing heritage in Manchester, green belts, and Waltham Forest’s Mini Holland. We hope you've enjoyed this first series of the podcast. We are aiming to back next year with a new and improved Urban Design Room!

On this episode Derek Antrobus, Local Councillor in the City of Salford, shares his experiences in planning and development. He discusses the role of local politicians in shaping development in England and shares his experiences in the regeneration of Salford Quays and the redesign of Chapel Street.

Nicola Kane, Head of Strategy at Transport for Greater Manchester is on to discuss transport and cities. Why is transport so important in making great places to live? Which cities are doing urban transport well? What is so exciting about Greater Manchester's new Streets for All approach?

In this episode, Eamonn Canniffe lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture is on to discuss architecture and heritage. Amongst other things, he talks about the sustainability of preserving heritage, the aims of the heritage movement, and gives advice to designers and planners about how to approach preserving built environments in our cities.

Film artist Danny Orwin explores why film art is often drawn to urban areas, how cities have been represented, and how urban design can be influenced by this art form. You can see more of Danny's work here http://cargocollective.com/dannyorwin

Urbanist and planner Lucy Wallwork discusses post-soviet cities. What characterises them? What are their good and bad features? And what does the future hold? If you like what you hear, you can find more of Lucy's thoughts on post-soviet cities on her blog www.urbanistanblog.com or by following her on twitter @urbanistanblog

Curator and suffrage historian Helen Antrobus discusses cities, protest, and social change. We talk about how urban design impacts on social movements and Helen explains why Manchester is the most radical city in the world.

Dr Ian Mell, Professor of Environment and Landscape at the University of Manchester, explores a variety of topics and ideas around green infrastructure (GI). Ian firstly explains what GI is and discusses why it should be central to the practice of urban design and planning. He then illustrates some best practise examples and describes places that he would like to change with a GI approach. In the second half of the podcast, Ian gives an overview of two of the biggest challenges for British GI. Namely, how to keep public parks open in the face of austerity and in what ways the green belt could be reformed to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Egyptian urban designer and architect Mahmoud Mournir discusses urban design in the Middle East and informal development in Cairo.