Who We Are...
The Future Cities Project has been set up to critically explore issues around the city. From the urban renaissance to the urban village; from sustainable development to under-development; from density to sprawl; from greenfield to green politics, the Future Cities Project seeks to explore why the terms of the debate - especially around cities - have become so fraught. We recognise that all questions around "the city" seem to be more intractable and less clear cut than they once were. But does that mean that city questions have become more complex, or have we become less confident to answer them? Architecture has become more about process, than product - evidenced by the fact that we have interminable quangos and debates about the housing shortage and yet, year on year, fewer and fewer homes are built.

Transport research has found that there is an increasing amount of caravans on the road correlating with the increased caravan sales Northampton among other areas. This continued increase could have other effects relating to reduced expenditure elsewhere in the economy, which will only be confirmed by further research into the subject.

Transport research has discovered that many people due to the economic downturn have either decided to holiday within the UK at i.e. a hotel in Norfolk or postpone their holiday until better financial times. This undoubtedly has an effect on the economy itself, especially that of businesses within the travel sector.

The government have recently decided to enforce new legislation that requires all bus, coach and lorry drivers to be Driver CPC Trained. Driver CPC Training has been rightly introduced to improve road safety among other factors and hopefully this introduction will see a decrease in bus, coach and lorry related accidents.

The current infrastructure including roads and the positioning of buildings, residential and business in some major cities is making it increasingly hard for some vehicles to use the roads. Car transporters are one such example where due to urban development and the increased usage of spare land/space has created situations where vehicles are unable to arrive at their destination.

Transport Research has noticed that with the saturation of available buildings within town and city centres more and more businesses have to locate to alternative locations. UK 0800 Numbers have been used to deal with calls and to establish themselves in out of town retail parks or other viable out of town business premises due to the lack on "in town" property.

Tourism and cities are often closely interlinked, some by their historical past and some because of natural landmarks or features. However due to the nature of some cities a Lunar caravan would find it increasingly difficult to navigate through them due to the increase load on the infrastructure generated by tourism.

Due to the continual expansion of the city, residential and business property is now spilling out into the outskirts of the city/town. This spillage is due to the increased need for space for i.e. a Sterling caravan or the building of a departmental store which has the knock on effect of removing/building on land which previously had an alternate use i.e. farming and agriculture.

When moving homes or moving overseas, it is important to make sure that the gas and electrics in the new house have all been tested. moving overseas We recommend you confirm these with your new landlord before moving in.

Vancouver is widely claimed to be one of the worlds greatest cities & one of our prime sponsors, Westbeach, who manufacture snowboarding jackets are based there. This year they have been kind enough to donate several prizes to our forthcoming auction to help raise money for this site. We'd like to thank them for their ongoing support.

We are all in search of more free time to enjoy the hobbies and individual interests that each person has but the day to day running of your home may be getting in the way of spare time. Try Milton Keynes Cleaners for all of your home and house domestic cleaning needs from ironing to weekly house cleans so you can have back the time you always wanted to get back to enjoying life and all it has to offer.

There is a new site that use GPs to track city traffic. If you go to CityTraffic.com you can find the latest info, about traffic in all of the the world largest cities. The also have a section for the latest traffic news, and if there are any major problems in your city.

Building projects in urban areas, like other areas create a lot of waste, some of which needs to be disposed of in line with legislation, such as plasterboard recycling . Works traffic can also often be a problem in urban areas due to the sometimes slow moving nature of the vehicles and congestion it can cause.

Urban sprawl is the spreading of a city and its suburbs over rural land at the fringe of an urban area. This can often occur due to residential expansion and construction with installations including Grohe showers and other bathroom accessories and equipment. However urban sprawl can have environmental costs including loss of open space, habitats, increased pollution and reduced water quality (urban runoff).

Many urban landscapes are continually evolving and growing through commercial and residential growth. Growth and the resulting construction work results in waste which can be managed by a Boston skip hire company. It’s this effective management of waste which will ensure the preservation of our environment and future generations.

The project of The Future Cities Project is, to a certain extent, to return to first principles, and critique the rise of determinism, instrumentalism, dogmatism and didacticism in architecture, as well as the malign influence of sustainability, the precautionary principle and risk-aversion within the broader social and political environment in which we all operate

If you want to find out more, or join in the project, please contact the Future Cities team.
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NB: For hard copies (£10) and with additional tables (£15) please send cheques payable to: "Transport Research Group" and send to Austin Williams, c/o 45 St Lawrence Court, De Beauvoir, London N1 5TP

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It's that time again:

The Bookshop Barnie Xmas Bash! was on December 8th, 7:00pm until 9:00pm

at the Waterstones Economist bookshop, Clare Market, LSE/Aldwych

Invite only
In the course of the evening, we had a
Bookshop Barnie Balloon Debate
with some well-known contestants vying to convince you not to throw their choice of "the most important book ever" overboard.

Henry Gee, senior editor 'Nature" and author of "Jacob's Ladder"
defending JRR Tolkien's "The Lord of The Rings"

Dennis Hayes, vice-president NATFHE, author "MacDonaldization of Higher Education"
defending John Stuart Mills' "On Liberty"

Vivienne Parry, journalist, broadcaster and author "The Truth About Hormones"
defending Charles Darwin's "The Voyage of the Beagle"

Ken Worpole, writer on social policy and author of "Here Comes the Sun"
defending John Berger's 'A Fortunate Man'

Piers Benn, lecturer in Medical Ethics and Law, Imperial College
defending George Orwell's "Animal Farm"

Sheila Lewis, director, Management Consultancy, Volanti
defending Karl Marx's "Das Kapital"

Paul Hyett, past-president, Royal Institute of British Architects and chief executive of global architectural company, Ryder HKS
defending John Pilger's "Tell Me No Lies"

The Future Cities Project hosted the discussion: "Sustainability: The Architecture of Low Horizons" at the Battle of Ideas conference, 29th and 30th October 2005.

with: Pascale Scheurer, head of sustainability at Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Paul Hyett, past-president of Royal Institute of British Architects and chairman of Ryder HKS; Henry Oliver, head of planning & policy, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England Austin Williams, director, Future Cities Project and technical editor, Architects' Journal

For more information, visit: www.battleofideas.co.uk

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Architects!

When was the last time that you had a crit? Could you really justify your work if challenged? What are your architectural objectives? How do your projects relate to broader social concerns?

The Late-Nite Review is a tough new arena to explore architectural practice as well as the issues that influence it. 

There will be more Late-Nite Reviews coming soon... please watch this space... in the meantime here's details about the first two:          

Set up by the Future Cities Project, Late-Nite Reviews are a place where young architects have taken up the challenge to present their work to a panel of critics, commentators and pundits. This team will grill them to explain their ideas - but also to explore the theme reflected in the work.  
          
Tuesday 21 June 2005
Theme: “SUSTAINABILITY

Friday 24 June 2005
Theme: “COMMUNITY & CONSULTATION”


Late-Nite Reviews:
Part bear-pit, part celebrity wrestling, part rigorous review, the point of the discussion is to see if the architects – and panellists – can convey their ideas successfully, but also to see if those ideas themselves stand up to criticism.

Come along at 7:45pm for a beer, an 8:00pm start, and the architectural challenge of the year.

Venue: The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, Farringdon Date: 21^st and 24^th June, 2005


We would like to thank the kind support of Alan Baxter Associates in helping to stage this event.

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BOOKS
"The Macro World of MicroCars"
by Kate Trant & Austin Williams
(Black Dog Publications, 2004)
Forward by Stephen Bayley
NOW ON SALE
see Publications page

E:mail to Austin Williams

The microcar was a common feature in cities across Britain and Europe in the Fifties and Sixties, but by the Seventies, they had all but disappeared. Why? And why now, is there a renewed interest in microcars, in an even wider market? Are the trends driven by the same motives? This book explores for the first time the similarities and the differences between the politics, culture and aspirations from the Sixties and today, through the prism of the microcar.

This book, by Kate Trant and Austin Williams, examines the microcar story in context – from America to Europe – and untangles the many superficial similarities between today's microcar resurgence and the first era of the microcar, to provide a colourful insight into the changing face of 'responsible' motoring.

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