The Institute for Place, Environment and Society (PES) Seminar Series

Description

Talk: Urban Design Governance and The Softest of Soft Powers

Speaker: Professor Matthew Carmona.
Date: 28 February 2024.
Time: 12:00 (UK time).
Format: Online.

Matthew Carmona is Professor of Planning & Urban Design at The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, UK. His research has focused on urban design, processes of design governance and on the design and management of public space. Matthew was educated at the University of Nottingham, UK, and is a chartered architect and planner. He Chairs the Place Alliance which brings together organisations and individuals who share a belief that the quality of the built environment has a profound influence on people’s lives. In 2016 he was Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment. In 2015 and 2022 he won the RTPI’s Academic Award for Research Excellence and in 2016 the RTPI Award for Wider Engagement. In 2018 he won the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Prize Best Published Paper award. In 2018 he launched www.place-value-wiki.net, a new online resource that brings together international evidence on how place quality impacts on our health, social, economic and environmental well-being. Matthew is European Associate Editor for the ‘Journal of Urban Design’. He is a regular advisor to government and government agencies both in the UK and overseas and lectures internationally. He writes a column for Town & Country Planning, the journal of the Town & Country Planning. For more information: https://matthew-carmona.com

Urban Design Governance and The Softest of Soft Powers: This talk explores the soft powers of urban design governance as operationalised through a range of informal tools used by the public sector. It discusses findings in a new open-source book (Urban design governance, Soft powers and the European experience) which reveals how such means can offer an effective vehicle to build a culture of place quality and to more consistently deliver high quality design though place-shaping processes. By way of illustration, the softest of soft initiatives is discussed, the work of the Place Alliance, a university-led research and campaigning platform in the UK.

Period	28 Feb 2024
Event type	Seminar
Location	Edinburgh, BrazilShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International