I am sometimes asked what I do for a living with an expectation that my response will comprise a simple word or two. I don’t, though, have an easily identifiable profession or job which says what it does on the tin, such as engineer, sales assistant, teacher. I have...
I’ve long held that peer-to-peer learning can be more powerful than formal training and with deepening devolution, the Good City Economy UK road trip is a great idea. The next logical step is international ‘study’, given that cities collaborate with greater...
Communities Week 2017 provided a refreshing reminder of how local communities continue to take action on the issues that affect them, without apology or permission. It reminded me, too, of many national conversations I have been party to around how to support,...
Over the past few months I have provided strategic and practical advice on engaging communities in siting a government-led nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP). What is unusual – and what hooked me in – is that the government intends to adopt a...
During my third year at BUILD (Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues), organised by the German Marshall Fund of the United States) we talked a lot about magnetic cities and what it takes to create one. In discussion with leaders from a range of...
This isn’t the end for local activism
The head of the axed Community Development Foundation on how local organisations already hit by cuts will have to pick up the slack.
Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues
From September 16-19, 2015, BUILD convened over 100 civic leaders and urban practitioners from GMF’s network in the U.S. and Europe to discuss strategies for leading transformative change in cities for BUILD's second annual convening.
