Metropolitan Conference: London-Berlin

The chosen topic of changing High Streets and outer Town Centres is of particular importance both in London and Berlin. London can look at a more the 15-year-long history of strategies to make High Streets and outer Town Centres the attractive and urban backbone of the city region, which offer many opportunities for a fruitful exchange with Berlin.
Economic and social life has been hit by structural changes to the retail sector as well as suffered through competition from shopping centres and online trading. The pandemic has accelerated the changes. At the same time the 15 min city and urban village approaches suggest a revival of smaller centres away from the classic town centre with a focus on business clusters. Issues of a more sustainable urban mobility and adapting public spaces in the centres to the issues of climate change are asking for an integrated approach to the re-definition of centres. The Mayor of London has been promoting change in Outer London for more than 15 years. More than 250 M GBP have been invested in a series of programmes focused on regeneration and economic growth.

What has happened, who has made change happen, how has the public taken to these investments? Our interest is in revealing an integrated approach to place making. We would like to discuss how public realm improvements and modal change are making a contribution to positive change. How development of affordable and mixed use housing has been helping (or not). How new ways of working and trading can pilot new approaches to reviving ground floors. How good design can foster lasting change.

We invited a small number of expert speakers from London and Berlin to discuss this in a half day conference. The idea is the boroughs for the local perspective, the GLA as city wide sponsors and policy makers as well as the design profession to gather around the table alongside colleagues from
Berlin, working on similar issues. We would like to focus on Enfield and Waltham Forest, two outer boroughs in North-East London that have been undergoing interesting change and a range of projects
to show.

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