Thank you to all who joined us for ‘Creativity in the City’, a live panel discussion + Q&A which took place at The Building Society on Wednesday 6 September 2023. It was an incredibly interesting and passionate discussion, highlighting the value of creative communities, and more generally how we can start to ‘bridge’ between very different types of people who can definitely help each other make the most of our built environment.

Guest speakers: Kunle Barker (Chair), Roger Black (Creative Director, Draper Black and Ballymore), Martyn Evans (Creative Director, U+I a Landsec company), Kate Goodrich (Independent Artist), Gordon Seabright (Chief Executive, Creative Land Trust), Elizabeth Smith (Chairperson, Purcell – Heritage Architect), Jerry Tate (Founding Director, Tate+Co).

Event Synopsis
Creativity in the City: The Added Value of Cultural Spaces
There are two converging problems in London and the UK which appear unrelated at first; the lack of affordable and secure space for creative practice and the low demand for the ‘retail’ element in new developments. Increasingly forward-thinking developers are looking to bring studio and cultural spaces into their thinking, but what is the best way to ensure we make spaces that allow a sustainable, long-term creative collaborative community in a neighbourhood? We will explore this further, looking at design, governance, and the culture of a development.

A recording of the event is available on Soundcloud.com. To listen click here.