Belfast Sound Map

For all of us working on place and people's perceptions  mapping, this is a great and creative piece of work. I love it!

Cities Outlook 2012

The Centre for Cities have just published their annual health check on UK cities – Cities Outlook shows that the gap between places has widened since the recession, with cities like Cambridge, London and Edinburgh continuing to do well, while cities with struggling economies are falling further behind.

Queen of Shops Saves Britain's High Street

Celebrity retail expert Mary Portas has published her report into the UK's retail sector, telling the Government how to rejuvenate city centres and advocating 'town teams'. In the report there are 28 recommendations on what can be done by government, local authorities and business to help high streets revive. Of course, cultural planners, urban design and niche retail specialists have been arguing for special measures to be taken to revitalize town centres for ages... but that was yesterday and we are not celebrities...

Cultural Regeneration 2.0 Innovative approaches to regeneration

Interesting debate to follow if you are a member of the Academy of Urbanism Group on Linkedin.

Riots in North London

Public spending cuts and urban riots. Self explanatory.

Norway

Our heart goes out to our friends and colleagues in Norway during these difficult times. Your openness and democratic values are an inspiration to us all.

Bastille Day Reading

To celebrate the 14th of July in true French style, we suggest you revisit the Penguin collection of essays by Georges Perec titled Species of Spaces and Other Pieces . His reflections on how space begins and how it is made are playful and poetic. In essence, by asking the question: 'where is our space?' Perec shows that, above all, planning needs to fulfil human needs and urbanism has to be the ultimate goal of place-making.