In June, TOWN was closely involved in the Academy of Urbanism’s annual congress in Cambridge.

The Academy of Urbanism is a not-for-profit organisation that since 2006 has been bringing together both the current and next generation of urban leaders, thinkers and practitioners. Each year, it holds the AoU Congress, a gathering of city leaders and practitioners from across the UK and further afield, to share learning and ideas and to explore projects in the host city.

This year, Congress was hosted by Cambridge, under the theme of “designing for the future”. As a developer playing a key role in the city, TOWN supported the event in a number of ways.

Director Jonny Anstead was part of the steering group that oversaw the preparations leading up to the three-day event over a number of months, helping to guide the mix of topics and speakers, identifying local speakers and ensuring that content would be inspiring and thought-provoking.

At the event itself, TOWN led a tour of the Hartree site – a 48-hectare water brownfield site that is predominantly home to a water treatment centre – which will over the next 20 years be transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use quarter of Cambridge. And TOWN also led a tour of Marmalade Lane, its cohousing community that was completed in December 2018.

As always, Congress was interesting and entertaining, bringing a range of international speakers representing cities that achieved positive change. This year’s speakers included Marion Waller, former advisor to the Mayor of Paris, who was responsible for the “Reinventing Paris” competition launched in 2014 and aimed at transforming 23 sites in Paris and Daniel Knowles, journalist at the Economist and author of Carmageddon, a book about why the world needs fewer automobiles.

More information about the Academy of Urbanism and its programme of events and learning opportunities can be found on its website.