2023 at The Academy of Urbanism

January

Pictured: Jas Atwal

In January, Jas Atwal took over as Chair of the Academy of Urbanism, and the Board also welcomed four new Directors namely Harry Knibb, Matt Lally, Savini Rajapakse, and Victoria Whenray.

Later in the month, the Urbanism Awards commenced its 16th year with nominations being opened to our membership as well as the wider public, for submission to the 2023 Great Place, Street, Neighbourhood, Town, and European City Award categories.

The month ended with a fresh issue of the AoU’s Here & Now Journal, and the first Urbanism Hour of the year, focusing on the role of arts & culture in urbanism, with the help of Mark Clack, Kwame Daniels, and Vestalia Chilton.

February

Pictured: Fleet Street BID

The shortest month of the year saw the announcement of several of the year’s upcoming big events, namely Congress in Cambridge, our joint Re-imagining the Irish Town & City conference with the RIAI, and the Young Urbanists’ Cycle Trip between Ljubljana and Trieste.

Once again, we wrapped up the month with a virtual Urbanism Hour, this time looking at Business Improvement Districts with speakers Lady Lucy French and Lucy Minyo.

March

Pictured: Small Grant recipient HerCollective

Nominations for the Urbanism Awards closed in March, and we set about preparing for the shortlisting panels in April. Our Young Urbanist Small Grants Scheme recipients were announced as Zoë Chazen, Kathie Pollard, Amelia Powell and Kirsty Watt.

This month’s Urbanism Hour was on how we can encourage the evolution of place with integrity, and we were joined by speakers Maria Adebowale-Schwarte and Chuck Wolfe.

April

Pictured: Re-imagining the Irish Town & City conference in Galway

April was one of the bigger months in the 2023 Academy calendar. It kicked off with the Sensing Place evening event in Edinburgh, which asked the question: what do our landscapes tell us about how we understand places and communities?

The following week, two shortlisting panels of Academicians and Young Urbanists came together online to review the Urbanism Awards nominations and create the 2023 shortlist. That same week culminated in April’s Urbanism Hour, which was on cultural planning for sustainable places with speakers Asier Abaunza Robles and Lia Ghilardi.

We ended the month in Galway for a 2-day joint conference with the RIAI, on Re-imagining the Irish Town & City. This event focused on the reform required in the current planning, design and delivery systems to enable a sustainable and prosperous future for Irish urbanism. Following in the footsteps of the AoU’s 2012 Freiburg Charter for Sustainable Urbanism, this event was an introduction to the Galway Charter that launched in October.

April also brought with it the first edition of a YU workshop series entitled, The Young Urbanists Present: Build Your Career.

May

Pictured: Young Urbanist Agenda 2023 programme launch

May started with a new issue of the Here & Now Journal that included pieces interrogating the value of productivity as a metric, and the necessity of Highway Engineers.

The Young Urbanists, in their 10th anniversary year, met in May to review their Agenda 2023. Using the 2017 Agenda and ensuing manifesto they considered what issues and priorities need introducing six years on.

Finally, in May, we held the last Urbanism Hour of the Spring, which looked at healthy urbanism through the lens of the Wembley Park development, with speakers Julian Tollast and Olga Turner. This was the final Urbanism Hour before the summer break, during which recordings of the 2023 Urbanism Hours so far were released.

June

Pictured: Marion Waller speaking at Congress 2023

June opened with the post-pandemic return of the Young Urbanists Cycle Trip, which went from Ljubljana to Trieste experiencing first-hand the cities’ urbanism and cycle infrastructure.

Later in the month, the Academy headed to Cambridge for the 2023 edition of the AoU’s International Congress, themed on Designing for the Future. 200 local and international delegates spent three sunny days exploring the city and hearing from a range of speakers, including keynotes Itai Palti and Marion Waller. Congress 2023 also saw the launch of AoUi, the Academy’s international network of UK and European cities, whose news you can read about here.

Finally in June, the AoU was happy to collaborate with the Danish Embassy on its Liveable City day-conference. AoU Vice-Chair Andreas Markides curated the afternoon session on Green and Affordable Mobility, and AoU Members were invited to attend as guests of the Embassy.

July

Pictured: Venn Street, Clapham

At the beginning of July, we announced our 2023 Urbanism Awards finalists, and with them the summer programme of assessment visits, which this year took us to 13 towns and cities across 5 countries. The first visits were to Great Street finalists St Peter’s Lane (Canterbury) and Venn Street (Clapham).

Following a memorable Congress in Cambridge,  where AoU Founder John Thompson went to university, July saw the publication of a special memorial edition of the Here & Now Journal, commemorating the legacy of John, who passed away at the end of 2022.

And, a group of our members were invited by the Danish Embassy, partnered by the State of Green and Creative Denmark to visit Copenhagen for a study trip in celebration of the city’s status as World Capital of Architecture in 2023.

August

Pictured: YU Summer Party

A gentler month, with many off on their summer holidays, August held three more Assessment Visits – this time to Claypits Local Nature Reserve (Glasgow), Leith Shore (Edinburgh), and Caernarfon (Wales).

The temperamental British sun saw fit to shine on the Young Urbanists and Academicians who gathered on the Alan Baxter roof terrace for the YU Summer Party, which timed almost to the day with the Young Urbanists Launch Party 10 years ago in 2013.

This month the Young Urbanist network also opened for applications for the 2023/24 round of the Mentoring Scheme.

September

Pictured: Stromness, Orkney, Great Town finalist

We were busy in September, as the autumn term got underway, which included eight assessment visits spanning from the tip of Scotland to the very centre of the Netherlands.

Coincidentally, we also had a visit from our Dutch friends to London, when the Utrecht Development Network (DNU) came over for their annual study tour. On the penultimate evening of their stay we co-hosted an evening reception for DNU members, Young Urbanists, and Academicians.

This month, the Young Urbanist Steering Committee (YUSC) welcomed two new members in Franca Carassai and Ben Meador, and the Urbanism Hour returned with a session called ‘Adapt Now!’ with speakers Pooran Desai and Satpal Kaur.

With September also came the Designing for the Future special edition of the Here & Now Journal, reflecting on some of the key takeaways from Congress in Cambridge. This issue features pieces from some of the speakers, such as Itai Palti and Professor Flora Samuel.

October

Pictured: AoU's Healthy Urbanism session at Healthy City Design 2023

The final assessment visit of 2023, to Estepona in Spain, kicked off October, where AoU assessors were welcomed and hosted by the local municipality and offered a unique opportunity to get under the skin of the city’s urbanism.

Back in the UK, there was the second instalment of the YU Build Your Career series (this time looking at public practice), and the 7th Salus Healthy City Design conference, where the AoU hosted two sessions, which you can read about here.

In Galway, AoU current and former Chairs, Jas Atwal, Kevin Murray, and Tony Reddy, gathered with local dignitaries, civic and academic leaders, to launch and sign the Greater Galway Charter for Sustainable Urbanism. This charter is a joint initiative between the AoU, the RIAI, and Galway City Council.

This month’s Urbanism Hour was a lively conversation around the idea of considerate urbanism – prioritising the human over the physical in design of urban environments - with Liane Hartley and Deborah Saunt. And in Urbanism Awards news, we released Assessment Reports and opened voting for the 2023 winners.

November

Pictured: The Urbanism Awards Ceremony 2023

On Wednesday 8 November, we held this year’s Urbanism Awards Ceremony at the Blue Fin Building in Bankside, where attendees enjoyed skyline views of London, chats with fellow urbanists, and of course Ian McMillan’s marvellous finalist poems. You can remind yourself of the winners here.

This was followed, a week later, with a special Learning from Europe bumper edition of the Urbanism Hour, where the three European City of the Year finalists – Amersfoort, Estepona, and Exeter - shared some of their stories, projects, and lessons. Members can catch up on this in the Content Library.

The Young Urbanists opened calls for the 2024 Small Grants Scheme in November too, which is open for applications until New Year’s Eve, so YUs: get applying! More details here.

The last week of November brought with it two ‘finals’ for 2023: the final issue of the Here & Now Journal, on this occasion a special edition celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of the Young Urbanists; and the final in-person learning event, The Carbon Challenge, held at Arup’s Charlotte Street office with speakers Syreeta Bayne, Chris Brown, Mandy Franz, Kyle Gray, Kevin Logan, and Sue Riddlestone. Presentations from this event will be available in the Members Corner in the new year.

December

A month for celebration, December’s Urbanism Hour was themed on ‘Festival’. We were joined by Pride in Belper’s Sarah Barley-McMullen and Kensington + Chelsea Art Week’s Vestalia Chilton AoU for a discussion on arts, cultural, and social programming and their impact on urbanism.

There have also been two Christmas pub nights this month – one organised by the YUSC in London, and one by the Scottish Advisory Group in Glasgow – which have offered relaxed opportunities to meet with fellow urbanists and get to know the AoU a little better.

At AoU HQ, December has involved lots of exciting behind-the-scenes work preparing for next year, so keep an eye on your inbox and AoU social media for updates on the great activities we have planned in 2024.