Festival of the Future City - @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk - Bristol Ideas

Page created by Neil Byrd
 
CONTINUE READING
Festival of the Future City - @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk - Bristol Ideas
@FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15
                                       www.ideasfestival.co.uk

Festival of the Future City

Tuesday 17 - Friday 20 November 2015

In partnership with:
Festival of the Future City - @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk - Bristol Ideas
Foreword by George Ferguson/                                                                       Introduction by Andrew Kelly/

Bristol 2015 has been a remarkable year with projects taking                                       Our Festival of the Future City aims to inspire wide thinking
place across the city encouraging change in how we live,                                           and debate about the future of cities; look at examples of
work, travel, learn and play – as well as having some fun                                          good practice in cities that will help promote a better and
along the way.                                                                                     more resilient, sustainable and prosperous future for all;
                                                                                                   examine examples of city futures and city thinkers from the
It’s also been a year of debate about the
city: in conferences and conversations                                                             past and what they can tell us now.
– from our local neighbourhoods and
communities to our universities; amongst                                                           We’re interested in all aspects of city life and work: the smart city; city
businesses, voluntary organisations and                                                            economies; cities for all citizens; immigration and the city; the city builders
arts bodies; and in houses, pubs and cafés                                                         of the future; fairness and the city; legibility and cities; creative and
– people have discussed liveable cities, fair                                                      playable cities; city philanthropy; technology, privacy and security issues;
trade, green cities, being active citizens,                                                        city devolution; the future of work; housing; garden cities and more.
the economies of cities and more.
                                                                                                   The Festival of the Future City has been
The Festival of the Future City is the                                                             supported by Arts Council England as part of
culmination of our debates in 2015.                                                                the Exceptional award made to Bristol Cultural
                                                                                                   Development Partnership for Bristol 2015. We are
Cities are the future, as the majority of the                                                      grateful to Arts Council England for this and for
world’s population move to live and work                                                           their support for Withdrawn, the Richard Long
in them. Cities offer opportunities for local                                                      exhibition, Arcadia, Sanctum and Theaster Gates,
action, as well as partnership action with                                                         and the Bristol Whales. Thanks too to University
other cities coordinated through mayors                                                            of the West of England, InnovateUK and Bristol
                                                 I want to thank all the partners in the           City Council for their support for the festival.
and city leaders. The Festival of the Future
                                                 festival, the sponsors of Bristol 2015, and the
City – and all the other initiatives that
                                                 Bristol Cultural Development Partnership          All booking details are at the back of
have taken place this year – have helped
                                                 – Arts Council England, Bristol City Council      the brochure. For further details of all
put cities at the centre of debate about
                                                 and Business West – for their continuing          events, biographies of speakers, news,
sustainable futures with Bristol at the heart
                                                 work over many decades to make cities             updates, booking links and additions to
of this.
                                                 vibrant and creative places for all.              the programme go to www.ideasfestival.
                                                                                                   co.uk/seasons/festival-future-city. We
Please join me in the discussions,
                                                 George Ferguson                                   look forward to you joining the debates.
presentations and workshops and help
                                                 Mayor of Bristol
determine not just the future of Bristol but                                                       Andrew Kelly
of all cities.                                                                                     Director

2 www.ideasfestival.co.uk      @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                           @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 3
Festival of the Future City - @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk - Bristol Ideas
The Next City: Re-imagining the Means of Production
                                                                                               Mon 16 November 2015, 17.00-18.30
                                                                                               Novers Park Community Association (next to Knowle West Media Centre)
                                                                                               Free, but booking required

                                                                                               Digital fabrication technologies hold the possibility for radically democratising the
                                                                                               design and construction of how and where we make almost everything – including our
Special pre-festival events/                                                                   homes and communities. This event brings together leading thinkers, architects, artists,
                                                                                               makers and local people to explore how the new means of production can be held in the
                                                                                               hands of the many rather than the few and how they can be used to create the places
                                                                                               communities want. Speakers include: Je Ahn, Bruce Bell, Kathrin Böhm, Melissa Mean
                                              InnovateUK Future City                           and Jonathan Mosley.
                                              Demonstrator Learning Events: Bristol
                                              Mon 16 November 2015, 09.00-17.00                Following the event ticket holders are invited to attend a preview of the exhibition The
                                              Watershed, Bristol                               Artist Hotel: A Room with a View at Knowle West Media Centre (18.30-20.30), further
                                              Free, but booking required                       details of which are on the website.

                                                                                               In association with the Department of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of the West of
                                              Over the past two years, InnovateUK
                                                                                               England, Knowle West Media Centre and The Architecture Centre.
                                              has invested £33m in its Future Cities
                                              Demonstrator project. This enables
                                              businesses to test new solutions for
                                              connecting and integrating individual            Building Healthy Cities for All
                                              city systems. It also allows cities to explore
                                              new approaches to delivering a good local        Bristol Health Partners is committed to building a healthy city for all: cities that are
                                              economy and excellent quality of life, whilst    liveable for all ages and promote health and happiness; see reductions in inequality; and
                                              reducing their environmental footprint           help citizens fulfil their potential. Sessions include: age-friendly cities (see below); health
                                              and increasing resilience to environmental       and cities – covering both physical and mental health; and creating healthy and happy
                                              change. Workshops in each demonstrator city      places. Speakers include: Liz Zeidler (Happy City Bristol), Joe Irvin (Living Streets), Claire
                                              bring together key players to share learning     Miller (LinkAge), David Relph (Bristol Health Partners), Debbie Sorkin (The Leadership
                                              and insights with other cities to help address   Centre). The Building Healthy Cities for All sessions will be launched in full in early
                                              a common challenge of how to mobilise            October. There are also sessions through the festival on this theme, including Michael
                                              investment in new smart city initiatives. The    Marmot (page 10) and Social Mobility in Future Cities (page 12) among others.
                                              Bristol event is the first in the series.
                                                                                               Building Age-Friendly Cities
                                                                                               Tue 17 November 2015, 09.30-10.30, Watershed, Bristol, £7 / £6

                                                                                               As city populations age there’s a need to consider the specific needs of older people
                                                                                               in urban areas. This is a great opportunity: creating age-friendly cities means not just
                                                                                               adapting places to deal with problems but encouraging all to take full advantage of city
                                                                                               life and living. Bristol aims to be an age-friendly city, but what does this really mean?
                                                                                               What can be learned from other cities? Writer and sociologist Anne Karpf (author of How
                                                                                               to Age) joins Paul McGarry (Age-Friendly Manchester), Helen Manchester (University of
                                                                                               Bristol) and Guy Robertson (Positive Ageing Associates).
                                                                                                                                                                                          In association with
                                                                                               See also the walk on page 22. If you wish to attend both
                                                                                               the session and the walk, transport will be provided from
                                                                                               Watershed to the venue.

4 www.ideasfestival.co.uk   @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                                  @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 5
Festival of the Future City - @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk - Bristol Ideas
Tuesday 17 November 2015/
                                                                                                Festival of the Future City Launch Event/
Steve Leonard                                  technology builders and entrepreneurs
                                               from around the world to leverage
                                                                                                Future Cities for All
Smart Nation Singapore
Tue 17 November 2015, 12.30-13.30              Singapore’s smart infrastructure and use         Tue 17 November 2015, 18.30-20.30
                                               the nation as a ‘living lab’ to test new ideas
Arnolfini, Bristol
                                               and solutions with global potential. Steve       Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
Free, but booking required
                                               Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman of
                                               Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)
                                                                                                University of Bristol
Singapore aims to be the world’s first
Smart Nation, with fuller use of technology
                                               Singapore, will be sharing more about            Free, but booking required
                                               Singapore’s Smart Nation journey.
to live, work and play, resulting in
improved quality of life for individuals;                                                       The future is urban. By 2050 70 per cent of the                   In association with
                                               Delivering the Future City in the Face           population will live in cities and towns. But how
business opportunities for enterprises;
and an anticipatory government that uses       of Global Challenges                             do we make cities liveable places that offer
technology to better serve and anticipate      Tue 17 November 2015, 14.30-17.00                education, security, housing, work, a sense of
citizens’ needs. Smart Nation brings           Reception Room, Wills Memorial                   place and a happy and fulfilling experience
together world-ranked universities and         Building, University of Bristol                  for all? How can we make cities more than just
medical facilities, multi-billion annual       Free, but booking required                       places for the wealthy? What makes an ideal city?
R&D investments, and a fast-growing
                                                                                                This debate – which launches the 2015 Festival
community of tech start-ups. At the            During 2015, the University of Bristol Cabot
same time Smart Nation is encouraging                                                           of the Future City – brings together academics,
                                               Institute, the Festival of Ideas and the
                                               Bristol Green Capital Partnership (BGCP)
                                                                                                artists and writers to discuss what city living and
                                               with partners in government, civil society       working should be. Introduced by Alan Wilson and
                                               and industry have discussed and collected        starting with a lecture by Mark Walport looking
                                               citizen opinions on how to achieve a             at the findings of the Foresight Future of Cities
                                               thriving, equitable and sustainable              programme, it is followed by a panel – one of the
                                               future for Bristol. Issues explored include      ‘The Way We Live Now’ national debates marking
                                               environmental uncertainty, resilience,           ten years of the AHRC – with Lauren Elkin (author
                                               youth, devolution, austerity, governance,        of the forthcoming Flâneuse: The (Feminine) Art of
                                               partnership and economics. This session
                                                                                                Walking in Cities), Gabriella Gómez-Mont (Mexico
                                               looks at the findings of this work and
                                               debates how Bristol can take charge of
                                                                                                City Lab), writer Olivia Laing (author of the
                                               its own successful, sustainable future.          forthcoming The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art
                                               Participants include: Rich Pancost,              of Being Alone), Richard Sennett (LSE), and Brent
                                               Director of the Cabot Institute; Gary            Toderian (former Vancouver city planner and now
                                               Topp, Development Director of the BGCP;          advisor to cities around the world).
                                               Caroline Bird (Cabot); Sarah Toy (resilience
                                               manager, Bristol).

6 www.ideasfestival.co.uk    @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                     @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 7
Festival of the Future City - @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk - Bristol Ideas
Festival of the Future City/ Nature-Rich Cities
                                                                                                 Wed 18 November 2015
                                                                                                 All sessions take place in Watershed, Bristol
                                                                                                 Each session £8 / £7 (special price for all three £20 / £18)
Wednesday 18 November 2015/                                                                      One of the great benefits of the current        11.45-13.00
                                                                                                 renewal of cities is the potential to make      Panel Two: Promoting and Developing
                                                                                                 them nature-rich. This strand, organised        Nature in Cities
New Thinking about Cities (1)                    City Data Workshop                              in association with Avon Wildlife Trust, will   Chair: Jane Memmott, University of Bristol
                                                                                                 explore how to integrate nature in urban
Wed 18 November 2015, 09.00-10.30                Wed 18 November 2015, 10.45-12.00                                                               David Goode (author of Nature in Towns
                                                                                                 living, design and planning, and debate
Watershed, Bristol                               Watershed, Bristol                              the challenges of making our urban              and Cities), Mathew Frith (London Wildlife
£8 / £7                                          Free, but booking required                      landscapes wildlife-friendly, both to protect   Trust) and Georgia Stokes (Birmingham
                                                                                                 existing wildlife and to attract more.          and Black Country Wildlife Trust) ask
The festival brings to public attention and      We’ve now a wealth of data about UK                                                             whether nature in cities is in safe hands;
debate some of the new thinking about cities     cities. Using historical data, Paul Swinney                                                     look at how we promote more involvement
                                                                                                 09.30-11.15
taking place around the world. Cristiana         (Centre for Cities) looks at over 100 years                                                     in wildlife in cities; and examine the
                                                                                                 Panel One: The Value of Urban Nature
Fragola (Rockefeller Foundation) talks           of change in the urban areas of England                                                         conflicts of interest in promoting nature in
                                                                                                 and Natural Capital
about resilience; Eva Gladek (Metabolic,         and Wales, comparing cities in 1911 to their                                                    cities and how they can be overcome.
                                                                                                 Chair: Bevis Watts, Avon Wildlife Trust
Netherlands) speaks on cities, systems           overall size and industrial make-up today.
thinking and the transition to a more            He identifies three principles that should      Keynote: Chris Baines                           14.00-15.00
sustainable state; Richard Sennett (LSE) puts    guide policy that attempts to support           Do we really need nature in our cities?         Panel Three: Architecture, Nature and
forward the case for a new Charter for Athens;   city growth over the next century. Tony         What are the risks of a nature-poor city?       Wildlife in Cities
Brent Toderian (Toderian Works, Vancouver)       Champion (Newcastle University), author         Author and broadcaster Chris Baines sets        Chair: John Alker, UK Green Building
looks at making cities liveable; Charlie         of the Foresight Study on population,           the scene. Speakers Melissa Harrison            Council
Catlett (Argonne National Laboratory and         looks at population trends in cities to 2050.   (novelist and writer of the Times Nature
The University of Chicago) talks about cities                                                    Notebook), Stephanie Hime (KPMG’s               It’s possible to make buildings and places
and the Array of Things; and Mark Walport        The Future of World Cities (1)                  natural capital specialist), Tony Juniper       where wildlife can live alongside humans
(Government Chief Scientific Adviser)                                                                                                            and there are plenty of good examples
                                                 Wed 18 November 2015, 11.00-12.00               (campaigner and author of What Has
identifies the key new lessons to come out of                                                    Nature Ever Done for Us?) and Claire            available. Rab Bennetts (Bennetts
                                                 Watershed, Bristol                                                                              Associates) joins Melissa Sterry (Bionic
the Foresight future of cities work.                                                             Wansbury (Atkins Global UK Ecology
                                                 £7 / £6                                                                                         City) and Mike Roberts (HAB Housing) to
                                                                                                 Leadership team) debate the risks of a
                                                                                                 nature-poor city and the value nature           debate how architecture can help create a
                                                 Cities around the world are facing great                                                        nature-rich city.
                                                                                                 brings to urban areas.
                                                 change. What are the opportunities,
                                                 problems and challenges – and are there
                                                 solutions for some of these that can
                                                 be shared more widely? Tim Moonen
                                                 (Business of Cities) sets the context;
                                                 Susan Parnell (African Centre for Cities)
                                                 looks at Africa; Olamide Udoma (Future
                                                 Lagos) looks at Lagos; and Gary Younge
                                                 (US Correspondent for the Guardian
                                                 for 12 years) talks about the American
                                                 experience.

8 www.ideasfestival.co.uk     @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                         @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 9
Future Resilience in Cities                       Nick Dunn                                     The Future of British Cities                    Launch of InnovateUK Future Cities
Wed 18 November 2015, 11.00-12.00                 How the Future of Cities Was Seen             Wed 18 November 2015, 14.00-15.00               Demonstrator Report
Watershed, Bristol                                From the Past                                 Watershed, Bristol                              Wed 18 November 2015, 14.00-17.00
£7 / £6                                           Wed 18 November 2015, 12.30-13.30             £7 / £6                                         Watershed, Bristol
                                                  Watershed, Bristol                                                                            Free, but booking required
Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation,          Free, but booking required                    Some British cities have transformed
100 Resilient Cities are actively planning now                                                  themselves over the past decade. But            In 2012 InnovateUK launched its Future
to become more resilient to the physical,         Nick Dunn, ImaginationLancaster, and          how do cities compare? And how do               Cities Demonstrator project. Cities are
social and economic challenges that are           author of the Foresight report ‘A Visual      we stop successful cities destroying            engines for innovation and growth. People
a growing part of the twenty-first century.       History of the Future’, looks at how future   themselves? Festival of Ideas asked             in cities tend to be more productive,
These are not just the shocks – earthquakes,      cities have been depicted over the last 100   two leading journalists to look at cities       wealthier, better educated, and more
fires, floods – but also the stresses that        years. He considers what these depictions     and where they are working and not              likely to start a new business than those
weaken the fabric of a city on a day-to-          sought to communicate and why; what           working: John Harris looks at Bristol,          in small towns and rural areas. Cities
day or cyclical basis: high unemployment;         types of city visions have had the most       Manchester, Plymouth and Bradford;              also make better use of resources. But
an overtaxed or inefficient public                influence on UK cities; and the important     Rowan Moore examines London and                 with populations rising, how do we plan,
transportation system; endemic violence; or       role they have in shaping our thinking on     considers how cities can develop for all        design and manage cities that can cope
chronic food and water shortages. Speakers        cities and our future urban strategies.       in the future.                                  with things like pressures on resources
from Rotterdam (Wynand Dassen), Glasgow                                                                                                         and increased waste, while meeting
(Julie Robertson) and Bristol (Sarah Toy)         Jerry Kaplan                                  City Thinkers of the Past and                   carbon and climate goals? The Future
talk about their resilient city plans. They are                                                 Now (1)                                         Cities Demonstrator project aimed to
                                                  What is the Future of Life and Work
joined by Ann Cousins (Arup).                                                                   Stuart Jeffries and Owen                        explore the challenges and opportunities
                                                  in an Age of Artificial Intelligence?
                                                                                                Hatherley: The Left and the                     around shaping the urban environment
Michael Marmot                                    Wed 18 November 2015, 12.30-13.30                                                             for future generations. Four cities – Bristol,
                                                  Watershed, Bristol                            Future of Cities
The Health Gap: The Challenge of an                                                             Wed 18 November 2015, 14.00-15.00
                                                                                                                                                Glasgow, London and Peterborough –
Unequal World                                     £7 / £6                                                                                       were supported to enable businesses
                                                                                                Watershed, Bristol                              to test, in practice, new solutions for
Wed 18 November 2015, 12.30-13.30                                                               £7 / £6
                                                  Futurist, innovator and best-selling author                                                   connecting and integrating individual
Watershed, Bristol                                Jerry Kaplan unpacks the latest advances                                                      city systems. This allowed the cities to
£7 / £6                                           in robotics, machine learning, and            The future of cities and places was a           explore new approaches to delivering a
                                                  perception powering systems. He believes      prime subject for debate amongst the            good local economy and excellent quality
There are dramatic differences in health          these have the potential to usher in a new    Left in the 1920s and 1930s, and there          of life, whilst reducing the environmental
between countries and within countries.           age of affluence and leisure, but warns the   is much to learn from the thoughts              footprint and increasing resilience to
People at relative social disadvantage            transition may be protracted and brutal       and experience of city thinkers and             environmental change. Another 26
suffer health disadvantages; the higher           unless we address the two great scourges      builders of the time. Stuart Jeffries,          feasibility studies were completed by
the social status of individuals the better       of the modern developed world: volatile       author of a forthcoming book on the             other cities. Glasgow was awarded the
their health. What makes these health             labour markets and income inequality. He      Frankfurt School, talks about Walter            overall winner with Bristol, London and
inequalities unjust is that we know what to       proposes how to avoid an extended period      Benjamin, and Owen Hatherley,                   Peterborough confirmed as smaller scale
do to make them smaller. Michael Marmot           of social turmoil.                            architectural writer and author of              demonstrators. This event launches the
explores compelling new evidence from                                                           Landscapes of Communism: A History              follow-up report.
around the world that has the potential to                                                      Through Buildings, talks about the
radically change the way we think about                                                         Viennese and Russian experience.
health, and indeed society.                                                                     (See also the screening of Man with
                                                                                                a Movie Camera on 23 November,
                                                                                                page 26).

10 www.ideasfestival.co.uk      @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                      @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 11
Social Mobility in Future Cities               City Thinkers of the Past and Now (2)            Iain Sinclair and Matthew Beaumont                            What Happened to Utopian Cities?
Wed 18 November 2015, 15.30-17.00              Miriam Fitzpatrick, Gillian Darley,              Cities and Walking                                            Wed 18 November 2015, 19.45-21.00
Watershed, Bristol                             Jonathan Meades and Owen                         Wed 18 November 2015, 18.00-19.00                             Watershed, Bristol
£8 / £7                                        Hatherley on William H Whyte, Jane               Watershed, Bristol                                            £8 / £7
                                               Jacobs and Ian Nairn                             £7 / £6
One of the major concerns about cities         Wed 18 November 2015, 15.30-17.00                                                                              In the late 1960s the world was faced with
and societies generally is social mobility.    Watershed, Bristol                               Iain Sinclair, poet, writer and filmmaker,                    impending disaster: the height of the
There are fears that inequality is growing,    £8 / £7                                          is one of our best writers on cities and                      Cold War, the end of oil, and the decline
that upward mobility is stagnating (even                                                        places. He takes a walk every day. He talks                   of great cities throughout the world. Out
gone into reverse) and that cities are                                                          about his recent work and what he has                         of this crisis came a new generation that
                                               In April 1958 ‘Downtown is for People’ was
becoming places for the wealthy. Is this the                                                    learned about cities and places and what                      hoped to build a better future. Douglas
                                               published in Fortune Magazine. Its author,
case and, if so, what impact will this have                                                     this means for the future with Matthew                        Murphy (author of the forthcoming Last
                                               Jane Jacobs (who went on to write the
on our cities in the future? Considerable                                                       Beaumont, author of Nightwalking: A                           Futures: Nature, Technology and the
                                               classic The Death and Life of Great American
work on social mobility has been done by                                                        Nocturnal History of London, the first                        End of Architecture) discusses utopian
                                               Cities) along with the critic Ian Nairn (whose
the Resolution Foundation. Gavin Kelly,                                                         instalment of an attempt to reconstruct a                     cities of the past and future with Darran
                                               photos were used to create illustrations for
founder of the foundation and now chief                                                         cultural history of the city at night, from                   Anderson (author of Imaginary Cities,
                                               the article) were brought together at the
executive of the Resolution Trust, joins                                                        the Middle Ages to the present. They are in                   which demonstrates that each city dreamt
                                               invitation of William H Whyte, American
Marvin Rees, director, amongst others, of a                                                     discussion with Lauren Elkin (author of the                   up by artists, writers, architects has a
                                               urbanist, organisational analyst, people-
leadership programme encouraging social                                                         forthcoming Flâneuse: The (Feminine) Art                      real-life equivalent) and futurist Melissa
                                               watcher and author of The Social Life of
mobility in Bristol, and Lynsey Hanley,                                                         of Walking in Cities).                                        Sterry. Chaired by Jonathan Derbyshire
                                               Small Urban Spaces, among others. It was a
commentator and author of Estates: An                                                                                                                         (Prospect).
                                               turning point in all their respective careers.
Intimate History.                                                                               Assemble: The Hand-Made and the
                                               Architect and lecturer Miriam Fitzpatrick
                                                                                                Improvised                                                    Bristol’s Data Dome Launch
                                               examines the life and work of Whyte; author
                                               Gillian Darley talks about Jacobs; and           Wed 18 November 2015, 18.00-19.30                             Wed 18 November 2015, check
                                               Jonathan Meades and Owen Hatherley look          Arnolfini, Bristol                                            website for times
                                               at Nairn, his TV work, writings and more.        £6 / £4                                                       At-Bristol, Bristol
                                               They all debate what these writers mean for                                                                    £9 / £7
                                               cities today.                                    Do hand-made, improvised and small-
                                                                                                scale interventions have any real impact on                   Information is beautiful, especially when
                                               Bettany Hughes and Edith Hall                    the long-term social and political life of a                  it’s developed for and shown in the UK’s
                                               Cities and Ideas in the Ancient World            city? Do these projects really benefit those                  only 3D 4K hemispherical projection
                                               Wed 18 November 2015, 18.00-19.00                involved, and if so how? Assemble is a                        environment, which is now connected to
                                                                                                                                                              a dedicated high performance computer
                                               Watershed, Bristol                               team of 18 young architects and designers
                                                                                                who seek to champion a working practice                       at the University of Bristol. Bristol’s
                                               £7 / £6                                                                                                        Data Dome – building real-time city-
                                                                                                that is interdependent and collaborative.
                                                                                                They talk about their work, which includes                    data visualisation from Bristol Is Open’s
                                               There’s much we can learn about how                                                                            emerging city-wide digital network – is
                                               cities should and should not work from           two primary school commissions in Bristol
                                                                                                and a project in Liverpool which has been                     launched at the festival, with a variety of
                                               the cities of the ancient world – especially                                                                   content being shown from earth sciences,
                                               Greece and Rome. Classicist Edith Hall,          nominated for the 2015 Turner Prize.
                                                                                                Followed by discussion with Stephen Knott                     to open-data, to sociological mapping
                                               author of Introducing the Ancient Greeks,                                                                      about cities now.
                                               and Bettany Hughes, broadcaster and              (Liverpool Hope University) and Jonathan
                                               author of The Hemlock Cup: Socrates,             Mosley (UWE).
                                               Athens and the Search for the Good Life          This event is part of the ‘Art in the City’ Lecture series,
                                               and a forthcoming history of Istanbul,           organised by Arnolfini, Bristol City Council, and the
                                                                                                University of the West of England. Supported by Bristol
                                               discuss ancient cities, their ideas and what     City Council.
                                               they can offer us now.

12 www.ideasfestival.co.uk    @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                                   @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 13
Immigration and Future Cities
                                                                                              Thu 19 November 2015, Watershed, Bristol
                                                                                              Each session £7 / £6, special price for both £12 / £10

                                                                                              Immigration was a key issue in the election and will continue to be a source of debate
                                                                                              and contention. Is this a problem for cities? Cities are traditionally places for immigrants.
                                                                                              Migrants help renew a place, bringing new ideas, skills and work. Cities can meet the
Thursday 19 November 2015/                                                                    challenges that changes bring, as they are places where people meet, and where people
                                                                                              who welcome or like change tend to live, learn, work and play. But what happens if these
                                                                                              challenges cannot be met and the pressures aren’t shared? And does it matter for the
                                                                                              future of cities if they do find a confidence about diversity and immigration, but there
New Thinking about Cities (2)                   The Future of the High Street
                                                                                              is much more concern and anxiety elsewhere? Since arguments about the gains of
Thu 19 November 2015, 09.00-10.30               Thu 19 November 2015, 11.00-12.00             migration are often challenged as the perspective of a narrow ‘metropolitan elite’, how
Watershed, Bristol                              Watershed, Bristol                            could civic leaders contribute constructively to broader national debates about migration,
£8 / £7                                         Free, but booking required                    identity and integration? Can they protect the interests and needs of the future city in
                                                                                              controversial and polarised political debates? These two sessions – run in association with
In this second session on new thinking          How can new smart services transform the      British Future – examine the pressures of change for cities and their surrounding areas.
about cities, there are contributions           customer experience and revitalise the
from: architect and writer Irena Bauman         High Street? In 2015 InnovateUK launched      11.00-12.00: The Pressures of Change: How Can Cities Make it Work?
on resilience in neighbourhoods; writer         a new competition with each winner            What are the challenges facing cities when it comes to immigration? What kind of
and place-hacker Bradley Garrett on             receiving £1m to develop their work. Jenny    numbers of new immigrants are we likely to see in cities in the future? What impact will
the need to oppose the privatisation of         Griffiths (Snap Fashion), Guy Chatburn        this have on identity, belonging and citizenship? This panel looks at the challenges cities
public space; Caroline Haynes (KPMG) on         (Rewarding Visits Ltd) and Graham Tricker     face and how to make change work. Steve Hanson (author of the Foresight Future of
Magnet Cities; Charles Landry (Comedia)         (Proxama) – representatives of three of the   Cities paper on identity and belonging) joins Rachel Sylvester (Times), Abdullahi Farah
on ambitious cities; Mike Rawlinson (City       winning companies – join Sarah Tromans        (Bristol Somali Resource Centre) and Ted Cantle (Institute of Community Cohesion).
ID) launches a manifesto for legible cities;    (InnovateUK, Lead Specialist for Urban        Chair: Sunder Katwala (British Future).
and Melissa Sterry (design scientist and        Living) to present the initiative and the
futurist) on bionic cities – how nature         projects. Guy Douglas (Digital High Street    12.30-13.30: Is Cosmopolitan Confidence Part of the Problem?
would design a city.                            2020) will set the context for the digital    Cities generally are comfortable with immigration it’s said. But is this true? If there is less
                                                high street and the complete consumer         confidence outside the city, could this pose problems for city-regions? Could making
                                                journey from ‘breakfast to bedtime’.          the positive case for diversity in cities build greater confidence elsewhere – or might that
                                                                                              backfire by generating a backlash against the cosmopolitan worldview from those who
                                                                                              feel less secure about change? Jeremy Cliffe (Economist) and Sunder Katwala discuss
                                                                                              with John Harris (Guardian) and others.

                                                                                              Chris Dorle
                                                                                              Cities Back from the Brink: the Case of Detroit
                                                                                              Thu 19 November 2015, 11.00-12.00
                                                                                              Watershed, Bristol
                                                                                              £7 / £6

                                                                                              In recent years no city symbolises disastrous urban failure as does Detroit: major
                                                                                              economic decline, bankruptcy, huge population loss, massive housing over supply and
                                                                                              a downtown in decay. Yet the city is recovering. Chris Dorle (Detroit Future City) leads
                                                                                              us through the story, focussing on what’s happening now and the long-term plans for
                                                                                              renewal and the greening of the city.

14 www.ideasfestival.co.uk     @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                      @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 15
Arts, Culture and the Playable City                                                                14.00-15.00                                     15.30-17.00
Thu 19 November 2015, Watershed, Bristol                                                           Playable City: International                    Playable City Workshop: Unexpected
All four sessions are part of the Playable City Day Ticket (£15 / £12)                             Part of Day Ticket                              Spaces for Play
and only Arts and the City can be booked individually                                                                                              Part of Day Ticket
                                                                                                   Playable City draws inspiration from a
Playable City puts people and play at the heart of the future city, asking how we might            global movement of artists and agencies         From billboards and traffic crossings to
make cities more liveable, open and human. Bristol – through the Pervasive Media Studio            making playful work for the future city, and    rivers and steps, Playable City transforms
and Watershed – pioneered the Playable City initiative with an annual award that attracts          is collaborating and igniting imaginations      the urban environment into places of
applications from around the world. There have been three awards so far: Hello Lamp                all around the world. This panel brings         unexpected interaction – and this is your
Post by PAN Studio, Tom Armitage and Gyorgyi Galik (2013); Shadowing by Jonathan                   together award-winning creatives Seiichi        chance to join in. Part workshop, part-
Chomko and Matthew Rosier (2014); and Urbanimals, created by the Laboratory for                    Saito of Rhizomatiks, Richard Roberts           street game, global wayfinding studio
Architectural Experiments, LAX, based in Poland (2015). Urbanimals will run throughout             of Jason Bruges Studio and Olamide              City ID and the Playable City team will
the Festival of the Future City.                                                                   Udoma of Future Lagos to showcase               transport you to a hidden corner of the
                                                                                                   their ground-breaking global work and           city – to play, think and share your ideas in
Playable City is a framework to think differently about the city by creating shared experiences    discuss the opportunities of a world-wide       an entirely unusual way. Bring comfy shoes
through play. Visible, democratic, surprising, and inclusive, it re-uses the city infrastructure   conversation around Playable City.              and warm clothes for a workshop with a
to create connections – person-to-person, person-to-city. By transforming city spaces into                                                         difference.
places of unexpected interaction, the Playable City helps develop conversations about the
changes needed in our cities of the future. Since its launch in Bristol, there are now Playable
City initiatives in Recife, Brazil, Tokyo, and a developing project in Lagos. Following on from
last year’s Making the City Playable Conference, this strand of the festival invites thinkers,     The Future of World Cities (2)
makers and planners from across the world to explore the role of play in future cities.            Thu 19 November 2015, 12.30-15.00 (with short interval)
                                                                                                   Watershed, Bristol
Chair: Clare Reddington, Creative Director, Watershed and Executive Producer of The Playable       £10 / £8
City Award. Playable City day is produced by Watershed and supported by British Council.
                                                                                                   This is our second session on the issues facing world cities today and the lessons to be
                                                                                                   learnt for future planning. The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP talks about the government’s
11.00-12.00                                      12.30-13.30                                       vision for cities. Novelist Elif Shafak looks at Istanbul; novelist and writer Rana Dasgupta
Arts and the City                                Playable City: UK                                 – author most recently of Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-first Century Delhi – looks at Delhi;
Peter Bazalgette, Col Needham,                   Part of Day Ticket                                Mathieu Lefevre, Executive Director of the New Cities Foundation, looks at Middle Eastern
Charles Landry, Clare Reddington                                                                   cities; Gabriella Goméz-Mont (Mexico City Lab) looks at Mexico; and Justin McGuirk –
£7 / £6 or part of Day Ticket                    What happens when you invite people               author of Radical Cities: Across Latin America in Search of a New Architecture – looks at
                                                 to play in the city? What conversations           Latin American cities.
Cities have always been important areas          does it start? Anna Grajper and Sebastian
for creativity and the exhibition of arts        Dobiesz (LAX) present Urbanimals,
and cultural activity. In recent years the       which unleashes a playful pack of wild
growth of arts and creative industries           beasts across Bristol; Matthew Rosier
has been seen as a priority. What makes          presents Shadowing, which gave memory
cities special places for arts and culture?      to Bristol’s street lights; and Claire
And where do cities and the arts go next?        Doherty, who has judged the award
Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council          since its inception, reflects on the work
England, puts forward his vision for arts        of Situations, which makes extraordinary
and urban areas. Col Needham talks about         ideas happen in unusual and unexpected
the importance of Bristol in establishing        places.
the Internet Movie Database. Charles
Landry (Comedia) and artists from Arcadia
– responsible most recently for the giant
spider show in Queen Square – respond.

16 www.ideasfestival.co.uk     @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                         @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 17
Designing Future Cities                        Devolution and the Future of Cities           Housing and Future Cities                      of Technological Solutionism); Adam
Thu 19 November 2015, 14.00-15.00              Mike Emmerich, George Ferguson,               Danny Dorling, Michael Edwards,                Greenfield (Urbanscale and author of
Watershed, Bristol                             Alexandra Jones, Mark Tewdwr-                 Kate Macintosh, Anna Minton,                   the forthcoming The City Is Here For You
£7 / £6                                        Jones, Heather Stewart                        Zoe Williams                                   To Use); and Stephen Hilton (Bristol City
                                                                                                                                            Council’s Connecting Bristol programme,
                                               Thu 19 November 2015, 15.30-17.00             Thu 19 November 2015, 15.30-17.00
                                                                                                                                            which aims to position Bristol as a leading
What are the design needs of future cities?    Watershed, Bristol                            Watershed, Bristol                             European Smart, Green and Digital City).
What are the materials needed for future       £8 / £7                                       £8 / £7
cities? How do we make cities places
for people? Claire Mookerjee, designer,                                                                                                     Poets, Writers and the City
                                               There’s little doubt that there’s a new       There’s no question that housing across        Thu 19 November 2015, 18.00-19.15
urbanist and Project Lead for Urbanism         mood about devolving powers to cities         the UK is in crisis. What are the solutions?
for Future Cities Catapult, looks at                                                                                                        Watershed, Bristol
                                               and regions. Where will this go next? Mike    Danny Dorling, author of All that is Solid
people-centred urbanism. She joins Mark        Emmerich (Metrodynamics), who worked          – How the Great Housing Disaster Defines       £8 / £7
Miodownik, director of the Institute of        on the Northern Powerhouse initiative         Our Times; Michael Edwards, author of the
Making at University College London and        and is now advising Birmingham; George        Foresight Future of Cities paper ‘Prospects    Festival of Ideas commissioned some
author of Stuff Matters, who looks at the      Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol; Alexandra         for Land, Rent and Housing in UK Cities’;      of Britain’s leading poets and writers to
future material needs of urban areas.          Jones (Director Centre for Cities), who has   architect Kate Macintosh, designer of          write about the city. In this special session,
                                               led the campaign for cities and devolution    pioneering social housing schemes; and         Liz Berry, Rachael Boast, Edson Burton,
Biomimicry and Future Cities                   for many years; and Mark Tewdwr-Jones         Anna Minton, journalist and author of          Ciaran Carson, Melissa Harrison, WN
Thu 19 November 2015, 15.30-17.00              (Professor of Town Planning, Newcastle        Ground Control, debate the crisis and          Herbert, Eimear McBride, Helen Mort,
Watershed, Bristol                             University), who led the Newcastle City       what cities especially can do. Chaired by      Peter Robinson and Lemn Sissay present
£8 / £7                                        Futures 2065 report, discuss the issues.      Zoe Williams, Guardian.                        their work.
                                               Chaired by Heather Stewart, Economics
The biomimetic city – a city modelled on       Editor, Observer.                             Are Smart Cities Really That Smart?            Guy Standing
nature – offers a sustainable future. To       In association with                           Thu 19 November 2015, 17.30-19.00              The Precariat and Future Cities
what extent can we use biomimicry to help                                                    Arnolfini, Bristol                             Thu 19 November 2015, 18.00-19.00
shape our cities’ infrastructure? What are                                                   £8 / £7                                        Watershed, Bristol
the trade-offs and leverage points that can                                                                                                 £7 / £6
allow us to develop systems – ecological,                                                    Cities, governments and companies
structural, technological, circulatory and                                                   are devoting enormous resources to             Guy Standing’s pioneering work on The
chemical – that are more productive and                                                      making cities smart: driverless cars;          Precariat identifies an emerging class of
effective than those already in place? Can                                                   demand management of traffic; digital          people, facing lives of insecurity, moving
we go beyond looking at organisms and                                                        mapping; Big Data; new forms of energy         in and out of jobs that give little meaning
start by valuing the interconnectedness?                                                     use; new ways to encourage the saving          to their lives. Standing believes that this
Peter Head (Founder and Chief Executive                                                      of high streets – all devoted to making        poses instabilities in society, leads to
Officer, The Ecological Sequestration Trust)                                                 traditional services and networks more         the villainisation of migrants and other
joins Julian Vincent (Honorary Professor of                                                  efficient through the use of digital and       vulnerable groups, and makes people
Biomimetics at University of Rhein-Waal/                                                     telecommunication technologies, for            susceptible to political extremism. He
University of Oxford) and Sue Thomas                                                         the benefit of all. The Festival of the        presents his latest findings on this and
(Technobiophilia: Nature and Cyberspace).                                                    Future City has looked at many aspects         debates the impact especially on urban
Chaired by Richard James MacCowan                                                            of smart cities and now debates how            areas.
(Founder Director, Biomimicry UK).                                                           valuable and efficient they will prove
                                                                                             to be. Speakers include: Charlie Catlett
                                                                                             (University of Chicago Computation
                                                                                             Institute); Evgeny Morozov (author of
                                                                                             To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly

18 www.ideasfestival.co.uk    @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                    @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 19
Ballard and Future Cities:                         High Rise
                                                   Thu 19 November 2015, 20.00-22.00
Will Self on JG Ballard and                        Watershed, Bristol
Future Cities                                      £9 / £6.50 / £4.50 (£1 off with Will Self
Thu 19 November 2015, 18.00-19.00                  Ballard talk ticket)
Watershed, Bristol
£9 / £6.50 / £4.50                                 A special preview of High Rise, the new film
                                                   based on JG Ballard’s 1975 novel. Produced      Friday 20 November 2015/
                                                   by Jeremy Thomas and directed by Ben
Will Self, who knew JG Ballard well in his
                                                   Wheatley, High Rise tells the tale of life in
final years, takes us on a journey of the
                                                   a modern luxury tower block running out
work and imagination of the man he called                                                          Bristol Day
                                                   of control where the wealthy tenants – cut
‘the most important British writer of the
                                                   off from the rest of society – are hell-bent
                                                                                                   Fri 20 November 2015, 10.00-16.00                   The Mayor’s Annual Lecture and
late 20th century’. Ballard’s contribution to                                                      At-Bristol, Bristol                                 Panel Debate
                                                   on an orgy of destruction. Tensions are
literature, to the visual arts, to architectural                                                   Free, by invitation
                                                   increased by a documentary filmmaker                                                                Fri 20 November 2015, 18.00-20.00
theory and philosophy is more widely
recognised and grows each year and his
                                                   living in the block who is determined to                                                            Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
                                                   highlight injustice. Parties on one floor       The final day of the Festival of the Future         University of Bristol
views of cities and places have much to                                                            City 2015 is all about the next 50 years
                                                   lead to attacks on others with mayhem and                                                           Free, but booking required
teach us now in debating their future.                                                             for Bristol. It follows on from an initial
                                                   the rules of the jungle resulting. Starring
See also: Will Self’s walking tour of              Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna            conversation that a group of Future-50
                                                                                                                                                       In this third annual Mayor’s lecture, and
Harbourside (page 24) and Self Selects:            Miller, Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss, the      Founders began in April 2015. Bristol
                                                                                                                                                       the culmination of the first Festival of the
Will Self’s cinema choice (page 25)                film shows Ballard’s classic tale of human      Day will build on this by opening up
                                                                                                                                                       Future City, George Ferguson will reflect
                                                   society slipping into violent reverse in        the conversation to a wider group of
                                                                                                                                                       on Bristol in 2015, and the city’s progress
                                                   closed communities for the rich.                interested people.
                                                                                                                                                       during European Green Capital, and
                                                                                                                                                       present a long-term vision for the city.
                                                                                                   The first Bristol Day will ask:
                                                                                                                                                       Following the lecture, he will debate the
Jonathan Meades on Places                          Bradley Garrett, Leo Hollis and                 1. What could the city be like in 2065?
                                                                                                                                                       future of the city with Jaya Chakrabarti
and Cities                                         Anna Minton: Place-Hack Your City                   What will its citizens value and how will
                                                                                                                                                       (local business leader and chair of
Thu 19 November 2015, 20.00-21.30                  Thu 19 November 2015, 20.00-21.00                                                                   Bristol’s elected mayor campaign),
                                                                                                       we behave?
Arnolfini, Bristol                                 Watershed, Bristol                                                                                  Phil Gibby (Director, Arts Council
                                                                                                   2. What are the big, bold steps needed to          England South West), Neha Mehta and
£8 / £7                                            £7 / £6
                                                                                                       get to a positive future?                       Thanushan Jeyarajah (Bristol’s Youth
                                                                                                                                                       Mayors), and others. Introduced by
Jonathan Meades is one of our greatest             We think that we’ve discovered everything,      3. Should Bristol Day become an annual
                                                                                                                                                       Professor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor,
writers and filmmakers on places, garden           but perhaps it is the everyday places around        event to publicly consider how the city
                                                                                                                                                       University of Bristol. Prior to the lecture,
cities, and city architecture, as well as being    us – the cities we live in – that need to be        is doing and what needs to improve or
                                                                                                                                                       Ian McMillan will read a specially
a journalist of great distinction on these and     rediscovered. Bradley Garrett is interested         change?
                                                                                                                                                       commissioned poem.
much else. In this session, and with many          in uncovering hidden places in soil, sea,
clips illustrating his work, Meades talks          cities and space. He provides a manifesto       To be a meaningful city-wide
about cities, towns, architecture, buildings       combining philosophy, politics and              conversation, people from all walks of life
and streets – from the most famous to the          adventure on our rights to the city and helps   will be encouraged to take part.
neglected and forgotten – and what this            us to understand the twenty-first century
means for the future of places.                    metropolis. He’ll also tell us how to place-    Use the link on the event page on the
                                                   hack the city we live in. With Leo Hollis,      Festival of Ideas website to put forward
See also: Jonathan Meades on Ian Nairn
                                                   author of Cities Are Good For You: The          your question, idea, hope or fear for
(18 November) and his special coach tour
                                                   Genius of the Metropolis, and Anna Minton,      Bristol 2065 and to request an invitation.
of Bristol (19 November)
                                                   journalist and author of Ground Control.

20 www.ideasfestival.co.uk       @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                          @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 21
Walking the Future City/                                                                       Walking the Talk – Making a Reality             Tim Mowl
                                                                                               of Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods                  Temple Quarter
Walks and coach tours around Bristol/                                                          Tue 17 November 2015, 11.30-13.00               Wed 18 November 2015, 14.00-15.30
                                                                                               Meet at Southville Centre, Beauly Road,         £10 / £9
All tours (apart from the Southville one) start at Watershed                                   Southville, Bristol BS3 1QG (or if attending
                                                                                               the session on age-friendly cities on           This riverside walk takes in the old Temple
What can we learn about the future of Bristol from walking around the city? A series of        17 November and wanting to join the             precinct, with the leaning tower of Holy
walks looks at how the city has changed over time to what it might look like in the future.    walk, transport will be provided)               Cross at its heart. While the area around
Architectural and garden historian Tim Mowl (Bristol Explored – Twelve Architectural           Free, but booking required                      Temple Quay has been regenerated with
Walks) explores issues of planning, urban design, architecture, good and bad, past,                                                            blocks of dubious architectural quality, the
present and future in three walks (with discussion afterwards over tea and cake). Will Self    Bristol has committed itself to become          warehouses on the dockside at Redcliff
looks at Habourside. There’s a special coach tour with Jonathan Meades on the places that      an ‘age-friendly’ city. But what does that      Quay have been sensitively converted
influenced him. We look at the practical ways that cities can be made more friendly for        really mean on the ground and what              to residential use. But what should be
older people. Mike Rawlinson shows how places change over time and Owen Hatherley              would it look like in a local area? The event   done about the shocking brutalism of the
looks critically at Bristol’s architecture, planning and spaces in a time of austerity.        will involve a 40-minute study walk in a        post-war light industrial planning zone
                                                                                               part of Southville, where, supported by         which surrounds the Blitz-derelict church
                                                                                               a number of older volunteer community           and Redcliff Street? As properties become
Tim Mowl                                       Mike Rawlinson                                  researchers, you will have the chance to        vacant, is it time to re-invent the suburb
Redcliffe                                      How the Uses of Cities Changes                  look at aspects of the built environment        on a more human scale?
Mon 16 November 2015, 14.00-15.30              Over Time                                       which are supportive of or detrimental
£10 / £9                                       Tue 17 November 2015, 11.00-12.30               to the quality of life of older people. The     Jonathan Meades on Bristol
                                                                                               walk will culminate with a presentation         (coach tour)
                                               £8 / £7
                                                                                               by Southville Community Development             Thu 19 November 2015, 11.00-13.00
This walk threads around Redcliffe, home
                                                                                               Association on the successes and
of Bristol poet Thomas Chatterton, and         Cities change all the time – what was                                                           £12 / £10
                                                                                               challenges they have encountered in
presided over by the largest and most          once a harbour becomes a road; a dual           trying to make the area more age friendly.
beautiful parish church in the country.        carriageway is taken out and a new city                                                         Jonathan Meades has known Bristol all his
Crass blocks of 1950s social housing           square created; old buildings are taken                                                         life. After Southampton, ‘Bristol was the
dominate the southern fringes, while                                                           Owen Hatherley                                  second city of my childhood and teens.
                                               down and reused; new cycleways replace
the inner circuit road cuts the suburb in      traffic lanes. Bristol has seen more change     City Change in a Time of Austerity              Southampton was morbidly affecting,
half. As a consequence, St Mary Redcliffe      than many other cities, with more to come.      Wed 18 November 2015, 10.30-12.00               dark, rain-slicked, tough, scary. Bristol
and Chatterton’s House are stranded in         What impact does this have on long-             £8 / £7                                         was – astonishingly – always sunny.’ In this
a sea of arterial roads. Could the traffic     term city planning and on people? Mike                                                          special coach tour, Meades takes us on a
be diverted along the New Cut on a             Rawlinson, founder of the Bristol Legible       Through his books A Guide to the New            journey to – and talks about – the places
Parisian-style embankment, leaving the         City project and director of many city          Ruins of Great Britain and A New Kind of        in Bristol that mean something to him:
church tranquil in a new cathedral-type        mapping and wayfinding initiatives around       Bleak: Journeys Through Urban Britain,          Totterdown, Arno’s Vale, High Kingsdown,
close? Should Chatterton’s House and the       the world, takes a tour of Bristol that looks   his columns and blogs, Owen Hatherley           Christmas Steps, Leigh Woods, The
remains of the School House be rescued         at how places and uses change over time.        has been a strong critic of the architecture    Rummer, The Coronation Tap, Redland
as a fitting new memorial to the city’s most                                                   and cities being developed in a time of         and more.
unfortunate son?                                                                               austerity and the big society. One of his
                                                                                               chapters covered Bristol. He takes a tour of
                                                                                               the city from the harbour to Lewins Mead
                                                                                               and Cabot Circus, talking about Bristol and
                                                                                               the future of cities.

22 www.ideasfestival.co.uk    @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                       @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 23
Will Self                                       Tim Mowl                                          Self Selects – Will Self’s Future Cities Cinema/
Walking Tour of Harbourside                     Castle Park
Thu 19 November 2015, 14.00-15.00               Fri 20 November 2015, 14.00-15.30                 To go alongside his visit to Bristol, his lecture on JG Ballard and Future Cities, and the
£10 / £9                                        £10 / £9                                          special preview of High Rise, Will Self has chosen films he admires about Ballard and
                                                                                                  cities in general. All screenings take place in Watershed. All prices: £9 / £6.50 / £4.50
Will Self has spent a lot of time walking –     It is the success of the restored Queen
and walking around cities especially. He’s      Square – now a bustling sylvan space,
well known for his views on architecture,       compared with its abject counterpart
                                                                                                  Metropolis                                       Naked
culture, food, cities, amongst many other       around the vanished Castle Street, lowered
subjects. Join him for an hour’s walk           over by the remains of bombed-out
                                                                                                  Tue 3 November 2015, 18.00-20.35                 Tue 17 November 2015, 18.00-20.30
around Harbourside where he’ll talk about       churches – that will encourage debate             Watershed, Bristol                               Watershed, Bristol
the place, the culture and the architecture.    on landscape conservation in the city
                                                in this walk. Is it enough just to leave          Fritz Lang’s classic expressionist drama         A winner of two awards at the Cannes
                                                the bombed-out precinct for the brief             is set in 2026. Wealthy industrialists rule      Film Festival – best director for Mike
                                                enjoyment of lunchtime office workers?            the vast city of Metropolis from high-           Leigh and best actor for David Thewlis
                                                Might the sculpture park that was devised         rise tower complexes, while a lower class        – Naked tells the parallel tales of two
                                                for the green spaces in the 1980s be revived      of underground-dwelling workers toils            sexually obsessed men, one hurting
                                                with new artworks? Could new residential          constantly to operate the machines               and annoying women physically and
                                                terraces be built alongside the Floating          that provide the city’s power. A futuristic      mentally, one wandering around the
                                                Harbour? Might the historic heart of the city     urban dystopia, the film follows the             night-time city talking to strangers and
                                                be revitalised by exhibitions on the Castle       attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of           experiencing life. Alternately bleak and
                                                and St Edith’s Well in the ruins of St Peter’s?   Metropolis’ ruler, and Maria, a poor             funny, this story of alienation and the
                                                                                                  worker, to overcome the vast gulf                city is a scathing examination of post-
                                                                                                  separating the classes of their city. Newly      Thatcherite Britain.
                                                                                                  restored, this film classic has much to
                                                                                                  say about current urban life and work.           Mulholland Drive
                                                                                                                                                   Tue 24 November 2015, 18.00-20.30
                                                                                                  Crash                                            Watershed, Bristol
                                                                                                  Tue 10 November 2015, 18.00-19.40
                                                                                                  Watershed, Bristol                               David Lynch’s American neo-noir
                                                                                                                                                   mystery film tells the story of an
                                                                                                  David Cronenberg’s Crash (1996),                 aspiring actress (Emily Watts), newly
                                                                                                  based on JG Ballard’s 1973 novel of the          arrived in Los Angeles. The story
                                                                                                  same name, tells the story of a group            includes several seemingly unrelated
                                                                                                  of people who take sexual pleasure               vignettes that eventually connect in
                                                                                                  from car crashes. The film generated             unpredictable ways, as well as some
                                                                                                  considerable controversy on its                  surreal and darkly comic scenes and
                                                                                                  release. Roger Ebert said ‘The result is         images that relate to the cryptic
                                                                                                  challenging, courageous and original’.           narrative. Widely regarded as one of
                                                                                                  Mark Kermode described Crash as                  Lynch’s finest works, it won him the
                                                                                                  ‘pretty much perfect’. A rare cinema             best director award at the Cannes Film
                                                                                                  screening for this unsettling classic.           Festival. It shows a view of LA never
                                                                                                                                                   seen before.
                                                                                                  Thanks to eOne, David Cronenberg
                                                                                                  and Jeremy Thomas for making this
                                                                                                  screening possible.

24 www.ideasfestival.co.uk     @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15                                                                          @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15 www.ideasfestival.co.uk 25
Linked events/
                                                                                                  Richard Long
The Liveable City
A Danish-British Dialogue                                                                         TIME AND SPACE
Wed 18-Thu 19 November 2015                                                                       Friday 31 July – Sunday 15 November
MShed                                                                                             Open Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 6pm, (Wednesday until 8pm),
                                                                                                  admission free
Free, but booking required
                                                                                                  TIME AND SPACE is a major solo exhibition that includes
                                                                                                  sculpture, drawing, photography and text works that date
The Liveable City is a celebration of                                                             from 1967 to the present. To accompany the exhibition at
architecture and urban planning that                                                              Arnolfini the artist has created a sculpture, Boyhood Line
                                                                                                  on The Downs.
looks at ways that architects, planners
and communities can play their part in                                                            arnolfini.org.uk / @ArnolfiniArts / #RichardLong
                                                                                                                                                               (Image) Richard Long, River Avon Mud Crescent, Sperone Westwater
the development of a dynamic, liveable                                                            Supported by                                                 Gallery, New York. Image courtesy the artist.
and sustainable city. Join Danish and
British experts in seminars and debates
to discuss best practices and exchange         Man with a Movie Camera
experiences. Subjects will include the         Screening with Live Accompaniment
housing challenge, water and flooding,         Mon 23 November 2015, 18.00-19.10
heat networks, transport and cycling,          Watershed, Bristol
sustainable architecture and more. The         £9 / £6.50 / £4.50
exhibition Architecture With People will
also be on display.                            A man travels around a city with a camera
                                               slung over his shoulder, documenting
For details see: www.denmark.org.uk and        urban life with dazzling invention. Dziga
the Festival of Ideas website.                 Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera is
                                               a film about film production – from
                                               the cameraman and the editor to the
                                               projectionist and the orchestra involved
                                                                                                  SANCTUM
                                               with the exhibition of the film we see being       29.10.15 – 21.11.15
                                               made. It’s a documentary of a day in the
                                               life of the Soviet Union. It’s also, critically,   THIS AUTUMN, AMERICAN ARTIST THEASTER GATES STAGES HIS FIRST UK
                                               about cities and urban life in a period of         PUBLIC PROJECT IN BRISTOL AS PART OF BRISTOL 2015 EUROPEAN GREEN CAPITAL
                                               swift change as seen in 1929. Regarded as          Working with the city’s materials and the city’s performers, Gates will build a remarkable temporary
                                               one of the greatest films of all time and          structure which will rise from the ruin of Temple Church, transforming it into an intimate gathering place
                                               perhaps the best documentary film ever             in which to hear the city like never before. Sustained by sound and spoken word continuously for 552 hours,
                                               made – the Guardian recently called it             Sanctum will be open over 24 days 24 hours a day involving hundreds of performers from across Bristol.
                                                                                                  Produced by Situations, Sanctum tests out what future spaces of contemplation and gathering we might
                                               ‘both a milestone and a time capsule’ –            require to sustain our cities of the future.
                                               it’s presented here in a new print with
                                               live accompaniment by the Harmonie                 www.sanctumbristol.com
                                               Band and a new score composed by
                                               Paul Robinson.

26 www.ideasfestival.co.uk    @FestivalofIdeas #futurecity15
Festival of Economics
                                             Thu 12 - Sat 14 November 2015
                                             At-Bristol

                  RABBIT
                                             In the Festival of Economics, programmed by Diane Coyle
                                             (Enlightenment Economics), economists and other experts from                                                             @FestivalofIdeas

                                             around the world will be debating with each other – and their
                                                                                                                                                                      #economicsfest
                                                                                                                                                                www.ideasfestival.co.uk

         Last seen in Bedminster             audiences – some of the key economic questions of our time.
                                                                                                                         Festival of Economics 2015

                                             Speakers include Vince Cable offering his vision for Britain’s

                                                                                                                         Living standards
                                             economy; sessions on the future of Europe, social mobility,

                                                                                                                         Environmental
                                                                                                                         Development
                                                                                                                         Productivity
                                                                                                                         Challenges
                                                                                                                         Rebalance
                                                                                                                         Uncertain

                                                                                                                         Economic
                                                                                                                         Managed
                                                                                                                         Financial

                                                                                                                         Collapse
                                                                                                                         Change

                                                                                                                         Growth
                                                                                                                         System
                                                                                                                         Causes
                                                                                                                         Market
                                                                                                                         Global

                                                                                                                         Future
                                                                                                                         Vision

                                                                                                                         Trade
                                                                                                                         Hope
                                                                                                                         Crisis
                                             immigration; and Nobel Prize winner Robert J Shiller debates the
                                             economics of manipulation and deception.

                                                                                                                         Immigration
                                                                                                                         Revive
                                                                                                                         Mobility
                                                                                                                         Inequality
                                                                                                                         Pragmatism
                                                                                                                         Choice
                                                                                                                         Shrink
                                                                                                                         State
                                                                                                                         Politics
                                                                                                                         Euro
                                                                                                                         Bubble
                                                                                                                         Investment
                                                                                                                         Well-being
                                                                                                                         Risk
                                                                                                                         Phishing
                                                                                                                         Banks
                                                                                                                         Sustainable
                                                                                                                         Debates
                                                                                                                         Policy
                                                                                                                         Agencies
                                                                                                                         Planning
                                                                                                                         Ecology
                                             Tickets can be purchased for individual events.
                                             A season ticket is also available covering all sessions:                    Thursday 12 November - Saturday 14 November 2015, At-Bristol

                                             £60 full price and £45 concession.

                                             Full details on the Festival of Ideas website:
                                             www.ideasfestival.co.uk/seasons/festival-economics/

                                             Bristol Weekenders 2016
Discover the animals hiding around Bristol   The Bristol Cultural Development Partnership is working with partners across the city
            From Tue 15 Sept                 in coordinating and promoting a series of specially themed weekenders in 2016. Each
                                             will see new arts commissions, poetry, essays, lectures, walking tours and debates.
                                             Events include:

                                             Frankenstein in Bristol: Mary Shelley lived in Bristol 200 years ago. The Frankenstein
                                             in Bristol project will include debates with scientists, historians, artists, commentators
        Winner of the Playable City Award    and others about the science of Frankenstein, and readings of newly commissioned
        Produced by                          writings and poems.
                      playablecity.co.uk
                                             The End of Everything and the Start of Something New: are we at the end of
                                             nature, the middle class, cities for all, the BBC, the welfare state – and, if so, what will
                                             replace them?

                                             Utopias: 2016 is the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia.
                                             We’ll look at the applicability of utopias, where utopian thinking has gone wrong and
                                             where it is still needed and might work in the future.

                                             The year’s programme is currently in development. Full details will be available on the
                                             Festival of Ideas website: www.ideasfestival.co.uk
You can also read