The Urban Challenge: do you have policy, practice or design ideas to share?

Do you have an idea for a change to policy, practice or design approaches, learning from 2020 experiences, but that would help us meet long term objectives around climate change, health and equality?

Urban Design London is starting a new initiative in September – an Urban Challenge.  The idea is to highlight, support and pull together great ideas for changing places.  

Do you have an idea for a change to policy, practice or design approaches, learning from 2020 experiences, but that would help us meet long term objectives around climate change, health and equality? 

One of the aims of this Challenge is to draw together ideas around each group theme from across built environment sectors. For example, in the Living Local group, we are hoping to see ideas around transport, public realm design and land use planning coming together to help create more complete, compact neighbourhoods. We aim to write up the ideas developed, and the feedback given, to prepare cross sector strategies for each of the 4 themes.  We anticipate that those who make policy and fund programmes will find this useful.

If you would like to take part in an Ideas Group, please fill in this very short form

If you would prefer to be a Challenger, Scene Setter or Stress Tester, please do get in touch with Urban Design London

About the Urban Challenge

We want to highlight and support the development of ideas to change the way we plan, design and manage our built environment.  The ideas should learn from Lockdown, but may not be about coping with a pandemic specifically.  The challenge would run from September to December and involve:

Challengers – explaining the objectives ideas for change should aim to achieve

Scene Setters – covering research, polls or other evidence of changing behaviours and conditions before, during and since lockdown

Ideas Groups – to discuss and work up ideas for change

Stress Testers -  community members, practitioners and business people who would implement ideas in the real world

Ideas should be practical, affordable, safe and inclusive.  They do not need to be fully developed or tested during this Challenge initiative – but should have the potential to move to the next stage and be implemented in the future.  The groups will share ideas on changes to planning, transport, public realm or building processes.  These changes might relate to plan making, decision taking, funding, design or build out tasks. The group should meet at least three times - first time on 15th Sept.  Any group members with existing ideas can present them briefly here.  The group can then decide if they want to develop other ideas too, and if so, what should be the priorities.  One aim for the challenge group is to look for synergies in ideas across built environment sectors.  the group will have a leader and a facilitator.

Contributors will retain IPR over their ideas, but will need to agree for UDL to share the idea within events, websites, social media posts and the Challenge report.