LCR Property, the Ministry of Housing and Rogers Stirk Harbour lead our September forum discussions
Future Cities Forum is delighted to be holding its September discussion event at Ravensbourne University London, where our debates will be taking inspiration from the surrounding district as it continues to undergo major regeneration.
Greenwich Peninsula is an emerging new residential area of London built on former gas works land and an exciting new design district is being built. It is served by the Jubilee Line which the Mayor of London describes as nationally important infrastructure. It is known for the O2 Arena, formerly the Dome and faces the developing boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham, with London City Airport nearby.
Adrian Lee, Director at LCR Property will be discussing best practice in retail development around stations with reference to Waterloo.London and Mayfield in Manchester. Ivan Harbour, Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour will be explaining about the importance of master planning for new districts and the Ministry of Housing's lead for development corporations, Ben Grubb will be describing the current need to encourage high level design in housing.
Ravensbourne University London Board Director and Course Leader for Architecture, Idrees Rasouli, will be introducing our research round table workshop during the morning. This will engage all of the guests present in looking at best practice around developing identity for new housing districts, joined up infrastructure planning for housing and transport and the value of design districts to the UK's creative communities.
Idrees is an award winning design engineer, conceptual architect, and business design lead who trained at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. He has worked across a wide range of industries, including automotive, technology, healthcare, transport, fashion and construction over four continents.
His core architectural students are studying the reintegration of neglected urban districts across Madrid and London, and the future of retail examining the potential for leading fashion brands to make a positive impact on urban places, such as Stella MaCarty on sustainability and Alexander McQueen on environments that boost mental health.
During this autumn, Ravensbourne students will be working on the colonial history and recent transformation of Tetuan in Madrid, which became a district for 'aliens' but is now being regenerated. The juxtaposition of very affluent and poor districts are being examined while looking at ways to make the barriers between them more permeable. The district takes its name from Tetouan in Morocco, which was the capital of the former Spanish protectorate.
Idrees has also been leading on projects for Ravensbourne students investigating the possible links between urban environment and the proliferation of knife crime in cities.
All research content from our September discussions will be written up in a post event report and distributed to the Future Cities Forum community.