Urbanism Beyond the Nuclear Family
An evening looking at how the built environment can respond to growing social trends away from the traditional family unit
Date: Wednesday 4 March 2026
Time: 18:00 for 18:15 start
Location: The Gallery @ 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
Access to care and community has long been largely reliant on or linked to having a nuclear family, and there’s plenty of evidence to show how the expectation to do so impacts housing, policy, healthcare. So what happens when you don’t?
In the run up to International Women’s Day, we’ll be joined by a panel of urbanists to examine how the built environment does or doesn’t enable independence as more women break free of historic expectations to live in service of a husband, children, and household.
From co-housing to blue zones, join us to discuss an urban equilibrium whereby an affordable, healthy, social life is available for all.
Programme timings
18:00 Registration
18:15 Introduction and presentations
19:00 Panel discussion
19:30 Informal reception
20:30 End of event
Timings are approximate and are subject to minor changes
Jonny Anstead
Jonny cofounded TOWN in 2014 - an SME developer creating places that support individual wellbeing, community life and a healthier planet. With over 20 years of working in the built environment, Jonny’s experience spans land assembly, commercial appraisal, urban design, masterplanning and delivery. Jonny was joint project director for Marmalade Lane, Hartree in North Cambridge a major planned, high-density urban extension to Cambridge and Northstowe, a development of approximately 150 homes in a new town just outside of Cambridge. Alongside TOWN, Jonny is a Trustee and Chair of the Quality of Life Foundation, a charity established to improve the impact of the built environment on the wellbeing of its users. A Brighton resident, he was, between 2017 and 2021, a Director of Brighton & Hove Community Land Trust.
Shira de Bourbon Parme
Shira is a built-environment strategist with over 20 years of international experience spanning practice, research, and advisory. Her work focuses on enabling inclusive, systemic change, with particular attention to urban care, health, and wellbeing, through the development of collaborative knowledge ecosystems and strengthened institutional capability. She draws on a background in architecture and urban development planning, alongside doctoral research in social and cultural anthropology at the University of Oxford. As Knowledge Engagement Manager at Arup University, Shira works across global skills networks to support the planning, design, and delivery of safe, resilient, and regenerative places that enable current and future generations to thrive.
Liane Hartley
MA (Oxon.), MPhil., AoU, FRSA
Liane is a town planner by background and is a writer and adviser on the broad area of urban sustainability. Her focus is on the social future of cities and how we live in and experience urban space. She founded Mend in 2010 to bring positive social benefits from the built environment, with her pioneering Community as Client™ concept. She is also the original founder of Urbanistas, which she created in London in 2012 and is now a global platform for amplifying the voices of women to make cities better for everyone. She also created Planning in the Pub which has branches in London, Cardiff and Birmingham. In 2022 Liane created Considerate Urbanism as a movement, mindset and method for fostering kinder urban experiences, lifestyles and behaviours, to transition us from car-based urbanism to care-based urbanism. Liane has been named as one of the UK’s most influential women in planning. She is a regular speaker, mentor and contributor to several publications, with a regular column in the UK’s 'The Planner' Magazine called The Social City.
